How do I categorize HSA contributions in a paycheck entry

dw833

I searched the community, but couldn't find a discussion for this issue.
This must be one of the those obvious fixes in quicken that I can't find.

Any suggestions on a solution.

I have a Fidelity HSA account. I can download transactions and the contributions from each paycheck is included.

Also, I have a paycheck entry for my checking account that was created from the paycheck wizard.

That entry includes the gross pay and all deductions, including the HSA deduction. I can't use the Fidelity account for the HSA amount category.
If I do, a double entry is made into the Fidelity HSentry?unt.
How can I avoid the double entry.
One downloaded from Fidelity and one from the paycheck entry.

Quicken for Windows 2024

Mark1104

manually delete the entry from Fidelity. that is the easy fix.

NotACPA

Why can't the Fidelity HSA be a TRANSFER (not a Category) in your paycheck? What happens?

dw833

Thanks NotACPA for your suggestion. Sorry about delay in responding.
The paycheck transaction is using a transfer for HSA amount. If I go to the HSA account register, I can right click on Go to Transfer back to checking account register. I believe that shows it is a transfer.

I did notice that the downloaded HSA transaction from fidelity has a different date than the checking account register date.
Not sure if that matters.

NotACPA

That difference in the date would seem to indicate that your employer/payroll isn't submitting the money to Fidelity on your paydate.

Not much that you can do about that.

dw833

Since the dates are different quicken can't recognize it is a transfer? I know that for some accounts when I download and accept I'll get some messages asking if a transaction is the same as an existing transfer. Since the dates are different, quicken can't do it. Is there any other work around for it.

NotACPA

Well, you COULD transfer that HSA deduction, in your paycheck, into a "Holding" account … and then transfer from the holding account to the HSA when actually received.

BUT, I'd simply not worry about it as long as the amounts match.

Tammy Van Buren

I have this same issue. Is there any way to match it since there is only a couple of days difference? Fidelity shows the participant deposit in the cash amount and then then the security purchase using the cash. We should be able to match the paycheck transfer to the participant deposit to avoid the "duplicate" transaction.

(BTW the reason for the difference is because the employer sends a file to Fidelity with information for all participants. If there are any discrepancies they need to be fixed before the entire file can be accepted by Fidelity)

dw833

Tammy, I found only one way to fix it. I created a separate account I called 401 paycheck. When I use the paycheck wizard to post the paycheck or just do a split transaction, I assigned the 401k deposit to that account. For that account, I don't use it for any displays, reports, etc. I then use the fidelity download to accurately reflect the 401k balance. That is working ok for me now.