Register workflow entries for Shared Expenses & Reimbursements

Question

I've tested this workflow today with an account register and I am in need of guidance with shared expenses entries.

Here's what I did:

* Created Category Group: “Expense Adjustments”
* Created Subcategory of Expense Adjustments: Shared Expense Offset-Family
* Use of these categories in Split Categories window

Example:

* I purchased $100 of groceries 
* I consumed $50 of groceries
* Family consumed $50 of groceries
* Use of one subcategory seems to make for accurate reporting: my portion of groceries correctly shows $50
* This is a better approach than showing the entire payment. 
* When I lean towards the use of two subcategories to track multiple people involved with shared expenses, the Quicken report becomes awkward* The subcategories for the groceries category appear correctly for family members involved (including me) 
* However, the groceries category shows a net amount of $0.00

What do you think?

Comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks.

Jim_Harman · Answer

When there are several people involved and each has already paid different amounts, optimizing the reimbursement payments can get complicated. See https://medium.com/@alexbrou/split-bills-with-friends-the-algorithm-behind-tricount-and-splitwise-using-integer-programming-48cd01999507

Or this https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/x881m3/splitting_expenses_in_a_group_algorithm/

These days there are apps for that!

QCarl · Answer

Thanks Jim. Seems like the pattern matches your workflow with non-complicated domestic related entries.

Jim_Harman · Answer

I work on the principle that my Quicken file should show my net cost for any shared expenses. I care more about how much I ended up paying than what the total cost was.

For example, say I have an expense Category "Dining Out" and I went out to dinner with friends. I paid the restaurant bill for $200 with a credit card and they reimbursed me  a total of $160. I would enter the $200 charge with the Dining Out category and the reimbursements as negative charges with the same category.

The same approach works for more complex sharing arrangements, where partners share ongoing costs. In that case I have a special Category for the shared item, "Boat" for example. I record my expenses in Quicken using that Category and my partner records their own expenses separately. From time to time we settle up. I run an Itemized Categories report for the Boat Category with a date range from the last settlement date to today and my partner brings in their own expenses.  We compute the total and divide by 2 to see each person's share. The person who has paid less pays the other the difference between their share and what they have already paid, so at the end of the day we have each paid the same amount. When I record the check or deposit, I put "Even to here" in the Memo in Quicken, so I know the start date for the next report.

Note that this approach may not work if there are partial reimbursements or overlapping expenses and reimbursements