Budget Issues with Split Transactions

Geno J

When a split transaction equals $0.00 any budget catergories used in that transaction do not show up in the budget. i.e. I have a 100.00/month budget for Clothing. I bought 2 shirts on Amazon for $25 each. When I look at my budget, I have Actual of $50 and Remaining $50. I hated the Shirts so I returned them and asked Amazon to refund the $50 to my on line balance. So I made a split transaction in my Amazon Visa Card Account that looks like this:
Clothing Return 2 Shirts -$50
Amazon Point $50

The budget still says I have spent $50 of Clothing. I suspect it has to do with the transaction netting out to zero as I have entered the transaction without the "Amazon Points" category and the budget reports correctly.

Anybody else have this issue? Can someone at Quicken review?

Thanks,

Gene

Quicken Anja

Hello @Geno J,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about your issue, though I apologize that you are experiencing this.

You are correct in that the budget is still reporting $50 spent as the budget is calculated based on the categories used in the transactions. Unfortunately, this is by design. In order for it to show it was refunded in the budget (bring the category back to $0.00 in the budget), you would need to use the same category for the refunded amount in which case I would also recommend adding a note or tag to indicate that it was a refund.

I hope this helps!

Geno J

Anja, Thanks for the reply. I think you misunderstood my categories.

I booked the 2 shirts at $50 to Clothing. I booked -$50 to clothing and $50 to Amazon Points category in the split making it a net zero. the result should be Zero in Clothing and $50 in Amazon Points category.

Let me know if that changes your view of the issue.

Thanks again,

Gene

Quicken Anja

Got it, thank you for clarifying, and apologies for misunderstanding!

If you don't mind, could you please provide screenshots of what you described above? If needed, please refer to this Community FAQ for instructions on how to attach a screenshot. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop screenshots to your response if you are not given the option to add attachments.

Thank you!

Geno J

Anja, I will send an example of my transactions.

Geno J

I have found now that the total balance is correct but the view transaction detail does NOT show the credits

Geno J

Based on what I show in the example, This is a BUG.

Geno J

@Quicken Anja, Can you look at my attachment and review and see if you concur that this is indeed a bug?

Thanks

Geno

Quicken Anja

Thank you for the screenshot and update, though I apologize for the delay in my response.

I attempted to replicate this issue, however, was not able to do so. Before we conclude that this is a bug, there are a few suggestions that I'd like you to try first. To start with, I suggest that you please try validating and/or super validating your data file. However, I do recommend that you first save a backup file prior to performing these steps.

Validate: 

1. File
2. Validate and Repair File...
   
3. Validate File
   
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
   
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

If the issue persists, proceed to Super Validate. If the issue is resolved after performing validation, then please disregard the instructions to Super Validate.

Super Validate:

1. File
2. Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...
   
3. Super Validate File
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
   
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

I hope this helps!

Geno J

Anja, I have issues with the validate and super validate. When I use this feature some transactions are "fixed" and I end up with a incorrect balance in my checking account and have to restore from backup. I will try this but I'm pretty certain it is going to cause me trouble but at least we will see what it does to the budget.

Geno

Geno J

Anja, Validate was run and no change to budget (I only checked "Validate Project" checkbox so my balances are OK. I then ran the Super Validate and the budget for clothing remains the same. Displays $32 in the actual budget and $125,97 in the transaction detail card.

Geno J

Hi @Anja. I have been waiting for a response from you for further debugging or officially making this a issue a bug for Quicken to Fix.

Thanks,

Gene

Quicken Anja

Next, I suggest that you try creating a copy of your data file which will rebuild all of the internal lists and database tables. If successful, you would then move forward with the copied file. To create a copy, please navigate to File > Copy or Backup File... > Create a copy or template (see examples below) which will also allow you to select a date range to move forward with.

If you wish to move forward with your entire data file, please check the full date range of your entire data file before copying so you can enter the correct date range if you do not wish to "shrink" your file by eliminating certain dates.





However, it's important to know that doing so will disconnect all online services in the copied file and you will need to sign back in with your Quicken ID and reconnect all of your online accounts, online billers, Quicken Bill Manager services, etc if you plan to use that copied file going forward. The reason for this is that the new copy also creates a new and separate dataset ID which can eliminate certain data file issues that may not always be detected through validating or super validating in the original file.

If the issue is not resolved in the copied file either, then feel free to switch back to your original file.

Thank you!

Geno J

@Anja

This sounds like a good way to hose up all of my old activity. This has nothing to do with old activity in any way that I can see. I am putting in new transactions and the numbers are not correct. I'll have a try at it but i am not hopeful.

Geno

Geno J

@Anja I have made a copy of the file and checked the budget. I have the same result. as the screen shots I sent to you before. The Detail card does not show the credit balances from the reversing transaction.

Geno J

@Anja So can this be made into a bug that Quicken will fix?

Quicken Anja

Thanks for the update, though I'm sorry to hear that it continues to persist.

I attempted to test this in hopes of being able to replicate this internally. Unfortunately, I was not able to do so. At this point, I recommend that you please reach out to Quicken Support directly for further assistance. They will also be able to escalate this issue if they see fit.

We apologize for any inconvenience! Thank you.