Downloading ROTH Transactions

neil154

I have a ROTH savings account at Alliant Credit union but Quicken will not allow me to set it up for download transactions.  Also, Alliant will allow me to use Web connect but quicken will not give me the option to add the transactions into that account.

Why is Quicken blocking it

Boatnmaniac

The FIDIR has Alliant CU listed like this:

• 04543    04543    04543    Alliant Credit Union    http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/    1-800-328-1935    https://www.alliantcreditunion.com/onlinebanking/    ACTIVE         BANKING,CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT         BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT    NOT_QBP    NA

Regarding the Roth account:  Is it really a savings account or is it an investment account.  I did not see a Roth savings account offering on the website but I did see a Roth investment account offering but maybe I'm missing something. 

The distinction between the two is important because the FIDIR shows Alliant CU is set up for downloading of Banking (checking, savings) and Credit accounts by both Express Web Connect and Web Connect but not for Investment accounts.  So if your Roth is really an investment account then you will not be able to download the information into Quicken.

If your Roth is really an investment account you can try to download the transactions in QIF, CSV, Excel or OFX format and then use a conversion program like ImportQIF to convert the file into something that can be imported into Quicken and then import it into Quicken.  ImportQIF was developed by a longtime Quicken user and active contributor to this Community.  You can read up more on it and download it from http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/.  I have not used it but others have posted here that it works well.

If you decide not to do that, then your other options are to set up and manage your Roth account manually or to not include it in your Quicken data file.

Jim_Harman

Do you have other accounts at Alliant that download OK?

Quicken assumes that Roth accounts are investing accounts, but it sounds like this is a savings account which would explain why it won't download.

If you set it up in Quicken as a Savings account, does it download OK? If you set the Tax Deferred option for the account, then at least its income will not be included in your tax reports.

Your situation is unusual because most people would want to hold investments like mutual funds or ETFs in a Roth account.

neil154

Alliant does not allow me to specify the type of account after I select ROTH.  However i guess it must be an investment account ( I was wrong when I said savings) since I have the option to use single mutual fund account or not.  So why can't I have the transactions downloaded or at least imported.  When I try to add download in quicken it does not find the account (does find my other) and when I try to import, the listed accounts do not include the Alliant ROTH.

Jim_Harman

You have set up a Roth investing account in Quicken. You can't download transactions for that account because Alliant only supports banking accounts for downloading.

Does your account at Alliant allow you to hold investments? If so, your only option is to enter the transactions in Quicken manually.

If the account at Alliant is really a savings account, I.e. you can make cash deposits and withdrawals but not hold investments, then if you want to download you should set up a savings (not Roth) account in Quicken. You can set the account to Tax deferred and Quicken will treat the income correctly for tax purposes.

If it is a savings account at Alliant but you want Quicken to treat it as a Roth account, you can use the Roth account you have set up in Quicken and enter the deposits and withdrawals manually.

Boatnmaniac

neil154 said:

Alliant does not allow me to specify the type of account after I select ROTH.  However i guess it must be an investment account ( I was wrong when I said savings) since I have the option to use single mutual fund account or not.  So why can't I have the transactions downloaded or at least imported.  When I try to add download in quicken it does not find the account (does find my other) and when I try to import, the listed accounts do not include the Alliant ROTH.

The download format used by Quicken is QFX.  QFX is a proprietary format so financial institutions wishing to use it must buy a license for that.  There are 3 different levels of license that are available and each comes with its own connection method:  Direct Connect (DC); Express Web Connect (EWC) and Web Connect (WC).

Investment accounts require DC which is also the most expensive of the 3 connection methods.  EWC and WC do not work with investment accounts.

The FIDIR listing shows the level of support for Quicken that Alliant has decided to contract for with Quicken/Intuit.  For whatever reason (usually it is cost and/or support resources) Alliant decided to not contract for DC. 

If you want Alliant to add DC support I suggest you contact them to request it.  If and when they get enough requests from customers they might decide they can make the business case for it and then change their contract to add DC.

neil154

Alliant Credit Union does support DC & EWC.  The problem is with Quicken.  The only way I can seem to create a ROTH account for Alliant is by using the "Offline Account" option when creating the account.  Alliant does allow me to download transactions from the ROTH account but when I try to import them into Quicken the ROTH account is not shown as an option for the import.  You would think that any account not setup for DC would allow EWC

Boatnmaniac

neil154 said:

Alliant Credit Union does support DC & EWC.  The problem is with Quicken.  The only way I can seem to create a ROTH account for Alliant is by using the "Offline Account" option when creating the account.  Alliant does allow me to download transactions from the ROTH account but when I try to import them into Quicken the ROTH account is not shown as an option for the import.  You would think that any account not setup for DC would allow EWC

You are mistaken about Alliant CU supporting DC.  Per the FIDIR list and Quicken's Add Account options it does not.

If you are downloading from Alliant into Quicken it is with EWC or WC.  You can confirm this by going to your account register and directly beneath the Account Name above the register it will state the connection method that is being used.

Your downloads from Alliant not being able to link to your Roth account in Quicken or to add a Roth account in Quicken simply verifies that the non-DC connection methods do not support investment accounts.  It would be nice if they would but they do not. 

It also would be nice if DC, EWC and WC downloads could be used interchangeably.  But each connection method possesses different features and functionality.  This is why each financial institution must decide which connection method or which combination of connection methods they wish to contract with Quicken for.

If you have not already done so, you might want to review the connection methods information in this Support Article:  https://www.quicken.com/support/how-quicken-connects-your-bank.

neil154

The downloads into my Alliant savings account is using EWC.  I guess what you are telling me is the Alliant did pay the licensing fee to EWC or DC for investment accounts.

Is there any way that I can setup a ROTH saving account for Alliant.  I only see that I can setup a tax deferred savings account not a ROTH savings account.

Boatnmaniac

neil154 said:

The downloads into my Alliant savings account is using EWC.  I guess what you are telling me is the Alliant did pay the licensing fee to EWC or DC for investment accounts.

Thank you for confirming that you have EWC set up.  So your Roth account is downloading into Quicken as a savings account?  So that must mean there are only cash or cash value transactions and no actual investments (securities) transactions, right?

If so, that means that Alliant has classified it as a savings account and not an investment account. 

Some banks will classify CDs and Money Market accounts as investment accounts while others classify them as savings accounts.  It sounds like Alliant has opted to classify your Roth as a savings account?

EWC works with savings accounts...not investment accounts.  So if you are getting downloads into a savings account because that is how Alliant has classified it then EWC is a good connection method for it.

neil154 said:

Is there any way that I can setup a ROTH saving account for Alliant.  I only see that I can setup a tax deferred savings account not a ROTH savings account.

If it is being downloaded into a savings account I do not know of any way you cannot make it a true Roth investment account but you can come close by doing the following:

• General tab of Account Details:  Set the account to a tax deferred account as you mentioned.
• General tab of Account Details:  Change the Account Name and/or Description to include "Roth" in it.  It does not change anything about the account itself but doing so can make it easier to identify it as a Roth report in Account List, reports, etc..
  
• Display tab of Account Details:  Change the Intent from "Savings" to "Retirement".  This will only affect where the account will show up in Account List, reports, etc.  It does not actually change anything about the account (at least I don't think it changes anything else).
  

I think that would be about the best you can do for it.

neil154

Thanks, but changing to tax deferred is not something that I will do since it will affect how the planner treats the account, giving me less accurate picture

Boatnmaniac

neil154 said:

Thanks, but changing to tax deferred is not something that I will do since it will affect how the planner treats the account, giving me less accurate picture

A regular Roth IRA investment account:

• Holdings grow tax deferred (i.e., tax free) until they are distributed.
• Distributions are from Roth IRAs are never taxed.
  

A Roth savings account as suggested:

• Holdings grow tax deferred (i.e., tax free) until they are distributed.
• Distributions from a savings account are never taxed.

I didn't check this out with Tax Planner or with Lifetime Planner but from what I know of both planners it should work the same as if it really is a Roth IRA investment account.  Please help me to understand why it would mess up the impact to either one of the planners.

neil154

They are not treated the same in the planner.  Since the tax deferred is eventually taxed, the planner eventually shows me paying taxes but with the ROTH there is no tax

Boatnmaniac

neil154 said:

They are not treated the same in the planner.  Since the tax deferred is eventually taxed, the planner eventually shows me paying taxes but with the ROTH there is no tax

Interesting.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks for the info.

Jim_Harman

@neil154,
If you want Quicken to treat your Alliant Roth account correctly in the Tax Planner and Lifetime Planner, you will have to set it up in Quicken as a Roth investing account and enter the transactions manually.

Unfortunately Quicken does not support Roth savings accounts and Alliant does not support downloading for investing accounts.

Alternatively, you could open a Roth investing account at a brokerage that supports downloading and put the money in a money market fund or whatever security(s) you want.