Is there a way to always see the main memo on reports when splits are used?

Ducksoup_SD

Windows R51.12, but this has been around forever.

CA taxes almost everything, so when I enter something, it often includes a tax. So, that makes a split, but I don't really need to make a separate memo in the split to say Tax. When I do a report sorted by Category, all I get is an S, showing there's a split, but the original top memo of the item isn't printed.

Here are two screens that show the problem.

The original entry shows I bought some movies from Kino Lorber. When I do a Transaction report sorted by Category, the top memo disappears, and , since I didn't bother to enter memos in the splits, the report shows no memos for the entry. This also happens when sorted by Payee and Date - all the amounts of the splits are shown, but the top memo isn't displayed, only the split memos. If I just enter splits, the top memo of the entry in the register is blank - I have no idea what I spent the money on unless I manually open up every split.

Is there either a setting that combines the various split memos to the top memo (so I can only enter split memos), or a setting that prints the top memo when there are no memos in any of the splits (so I can only enter the top memo)? Does such a setting exist somewhere in Quicken?

Thank you!

volvogirl

May I ask you a question? Why do you need to split the Tax out? Do you itemize deductions on your tax return and deduct the actual sales tax instead of State Income taxes paid? Or for business expenses, which the tax would just be part of the cost.

Ducksoup_SD

Yes, it's for personal sales tax vs. income tax choice at at tax time - CA has sales tax on almost everything, except labor and some foods. Additionally, I use splits for other categories, like if I buy items at a department store and some are groceries, others are clothes, and still others are household goods (e.g. top memo = tuna, socks, caulk). I also like to refer back to my purchases to see if the new price is very different from the old price, to make sure I'm not fooling myself into buying something for way more than it should cost, so I separate the shipping and handling out, too. CA also has a specific separate fee in auto registration that is tax deductible at the Federal level.

So, there are many reasons to do splits that don't necessarily require a great detail of information in the split memos, once you're used to the fact that CA is probably taking a bite of every transaction, too.

Tom Young

By the "main memo" you're referring to the memo entered in the Register associated with the gross dollar amount before splits, as opposed to whatever memo entries you made on the "Split Transaction" screen?

As far as I know there's no way to do that within Quicken.

Jim_Harman

If you print a register or the "All transactions" view, it will print the memo for the main transaction.

To print, select the account or click on All Transactions at the top of the Account Bar, sort and filter as desired, then go to File > Print <account name> or All Transactions. The format is less flexible than the standard reports, and it changes depending on whether you have selected 1 line or 2 lines for the register view.

Ducksoup_SD

Thanks, Jim, for a clue to the real problem. I discovered that if you use the All Transactions report and subtotal on either the Categories or Payees, they automatically check the Show Splits box in the Customize Transaction Report dialog box (gear icon). If you then choose Don't Subtotal, the Show Splits REMAINS checked, so you see the splits and no main memo. If you use the All Transactions report and use Don't Subtotal as the first report, the Show Splits is UNCHECKED, so you see the main memos in the report.

I'll send a bug report on this; the Don't Subtotal should print the same, no matter if it's the first or last report.

Ducksoup_SD

I just noticed another aspect of this. This problem only happens when you use the <Subtotal by:> pull down menu on the report page. If you use the <Subtotal by:> pull down menu in the Customize Transaction Report dialog box, neither Categories nor Payee automatically check the Show Splits box.

This area clearly needs some attention to gain consistency.

NotACPA

My home state doesn't have an income tax, so I'm eligible to deduct my actual Sales Tax on my Federal tax return, … so I split out the Sales tax on virtually every txn also.

I've learned, over the years, that the actual Sales tax is quite a bit higher than the IRS estimated tables, which is why I need to track my sales tax.