categorising expenses that also need to be added to depreciable assets

Question

I would like to report on all expenses incurred from all accounts related to the operation of a property to show the purchase history and category (e.g. kitchen renovation, home repair, etc). I would also like asset purchases to show up on an asset register (some might be covered by contents insurance and others are 'fixed' and covered by home insurance). Some expenses are just routine maintenance expenses and some are major appliance purchases that should be tracked and depreciated (I use tags to provide granular classification).

What is the simplest way to record the following transactions:

* purchase of major appliance from a personal acct on behalf of another account
* reimbursement of purchase from the other account to the personal account
* addition of the value of the purchase to the list of assets

jacobs · Answer

As you've discovered, you can't have a single transaction be a transfer and an expense at the same time. In accounting, a transfer of funds is not an expense, even though it may feel like one from a cash flow standpoint. To address this, Quicken Mac allows you to record transfers and include them in income/expense reports to affect your bottom line — but they show up as transfers not categorized expenses. So you have a few options

One question is whether you actually need to categorize the expenses if you're being reimbursed for the purchases by the trust. When you buy an oven for $4,000, and then get reimbursed for it by the trust, you personally have no expense; the trust has an expense. You can record that by having an asset account for each purchase you make (e.g. instead of a category, it's a transfer to the asset account); when you deposit the reimbursement from the trust, it's also a transfer to the asset account, reducing it back to zero.

Since the trust is a separate legal entity which files its own taxes, are you keeping the records for the trust in a separate Quicken data file? Or are you co-mingling the bookkeeping for your personal income and expenses with those of the trust?

It may be that keeping a separate list of assets, in Quicken or a separate spreadsheet, will be the best option for your needs.

Dr_B · Answer

A rental property belongs to a trust. The 'other' account in my example is the trust's account. Do to unusual circumstances I had to make purchases using my personal account. The trust then reimbursed me for the purchase. So, for example,

I buy an oven for $4000

The trust pays me back the $4000

I wish to add the oven to the asset register.

I then wish to create an expense report that shows the purchase under the 'Appliances' category.

I did something wrong I think when I set the category to 'Appliances' and then used the transfer field in the register to create a transfer into the asset account 'My House'. A transaction report will show the purchase as a transfer to 'My House' but not as an expense in the 'Appliances' category.

I was just hoping that I could record the expense and create the asset register entry in a single transaction but I gather from this thread that, strictly speaking, I should enter the purchase and reimbursement as transactions with 'Appliances' and that I need to make a separate entry into the asset register 'My House'.

volvogirl · Answer

Need more details.  What is the “another account” in #1?   Is that account in the same data file or a different file?