Account Transfers with Categories
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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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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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
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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Thank you for your thoughts on this issue. I think I am going to create a special category that will be just for the uncategorized part of the transaction. I will let you know how it works out.
Example: $1000 transfer to account X from account Y. I add another category to the transaction in account X for a capital contribution to an entity like an LLC. Quicken creates a balancing entry in the split that is meant to balance the split. Balancing entry is not categorized and shows in reports and other places as uncategorized.
It helps to think of this as a transfer with a purpose!
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Thank you for sharing,
Let us know how it turns out!
Quicken Kristina
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The thing to keep in mind is that Income makes you richer (higher net worth) and Expenses make you poorer.
A Transfer does neither. It just moves money from one account to another, just as moving your wallet from one pocket to another doesn't impact your net worth.
Your Transfer to an LLC isn't an expense, but a movement of funds from your personal pocket to a business pocket. So, the LLC should be an Asset type account … not an expense category.
You might want to take a look at Q's "Cash Flow" reports to see money moving to/from your personal pockets.
Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP0 -
So to enter a single transfer between accounts, in Account X you would have one transaction with split categories like:
- [Account Y] +$1000
- LLC Cap Contributions +$1000
- Some New Madeup Cat -$1000
Extra work. Depending on the report and your advanced customization setting for transfers, I’d think the transfers in would clearly be Cap Contributions. You could also include a key word on the memo line for filtering and possibly use tags.
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