Account Transfers with Categories

mzreed
mzreed Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭
edited March 23 in Registers & Transactions (Windows)

Hello,

When I make a transfer from one another account to another, I often add a category to the transaction. Quicken automatically adds an offset that becomes an uncategorized transaction.

Who amongst you has devised an elegant solution to this functionality? Ideally I do not want the offsets to remain as uncategorized.

Thanks for your help!

Mike

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Comments

  • Quicken Kristina
    Quicken Kristina Quicken Windows Subscription Moderator mod

    Hello @mzreed,

    Thank you for reaching out! Since a transfer is neither income nor an expense, but instead moving funds from one account to another, the transfer is the category. It's not intended to have a separate category assigned, which is likely why you're seeing it shift to Uncategorized. Have you considered putting the additional information in the Memo/Notes column or adding it as a Tag?

    I look forward to your response!

    Quicken Kristina

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  • Tom Young
    Tom Young Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    The accounting process, even the one Quicken uses, is called "double entry accounting" meaning that the dollars associated with a transaction get recorded in at least two places. Those two or more places (debits and corresponding credits), always require that debits = credits.

    So if you move $100 from a Checking account to a Savings account, you debit (Increase) the balance in the Savings account $100 and you credit (Decrease) the balance in the Checking account $100. A "balanced" entry that leaves no room for you to also squeeze in another $100 into some Category, even if mentally you want that $100 to be for your planned summer vacation.

    Quicken has really bent over backwards trying to accommodate people who want to make unbalanced entries because they have something in mind for that $100 Transfer. You might want to explore Savings Goals

    https://info.quicken.com/win/how-do-i-work-with-savings-goals

    to see if that would work for you, and if you want to see that $100 as a form of "expense" (which it isn't) in Income and Expense Reports, Quicken can even accommodate that, with a little effort on your part to Customize the report.

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