Need to track pension deductions as expenses

Question

I am retired and have insurance premiums deducted from my pension and soc. sec. benefits.  I decided to itemize my "payroll" income to be able to answer the question: "How much am I paying for insurance?" However, I am confused by the classification of Employer Benefit:Health Insurance etc. as Income, and stumped that those deductions do not appear in my Expenses report.  I tried to change those deductions from Income to Expenses, but that just made things more confusing. Can someone set me straight?

Jim_Harman · Answer

If you are using the Paycheck Wizard to enter your income and deductions, you enter the deduction as a positive number. The Wizard converts the deduction to a negative number - think of it as negative income.

If you are creating a split transaction yourself, you can still use the Income Category but you would enter a negative amount for the deduction.

Depending on which report you are using, you may need to click on the gear at the top right of the report to customize it and add the Health Insurance Category.

Tom Young · Answer

The premium you're paying is not an "employer benefit", you're paying for that insurance right out of your pocket with after-tax money.  
I wouldn't use the paycheck "wizard" (if you're using that) I'd simply create a Memorized split transaction, or a similar Reminder, with that deduction going to whatever expense Category you'd care to create.