Hi everyone, new to Tiller and have a question about how to go about handling reimbursements in the Foundation Template spreadsheet.
I have a job where I need to (frequently) fill up vehicles and pay for the gas out of my own pockets, and then get reimbursed for that once I submit my receipts. The money gets added on to my pay. Given that I get paid bi-weekly (pay + reimbursement) and I usually have anywhere between 8 - 10 of these reimbursable fuel purchases for each pay period, what’s the best way to go about budgeting for these? Is there a good way to separate reimbursable fuel purchases from my own personal fuel purchases that don’t get reimbursed?
Please consider creating two separate categories for fuel expense; Fuel-Personal (FP) and Fuel-Reimbursable (FR). When you set up the FR category on the Categories tab, the type (probably in column C) should be transfer while the FP type should be expense. Code all your reimbursable fuel charges to FR. When you get your paycheck, use the transaction splitter tool to split the reimbursable fuel charges off of your paycheck and then code that piece that you just split off to FR. The transaction splitter tool is located under Add-ons. Please let me know what you think.
I’m trying this out, but I can’t seem to find this transaction splitter tool you mentioned. Whereabouts is it exactly? I’ve gone to Add-ons --> Tiller --> Tools and the only tool that shows up for me is AutoCat
It should be in Add-ons, right below Tiller. If not, then you need to get it from the store. Go to Add-ons, get add-ons. Select get add-ons and then enter tiller splitter in the search box.
Weird… the Tiller Splitter add-on was actually not showing up in the store for me. Managed to find a link to it in one of the help documents and was able to add the splitter tool. Excited to try out your suggestion
I do a similar process, but have a group for all the Reimbursement categories (Lodging, Food, Gas, Misc). This allows me to see these expenses completely separated from my normal spending. I have another for Reimbursable Income and do the split as Blake suggested.
Please let me mention something to consider that becomes apparent when you start running reports like a P&L (Profit & Loss). The Categories tab has a Type column (income, expense, transfer) and a Hide From Reports column. My post above mentioned one category [Fuel-Reimbursable (FR)] and to code the Type as Transfer. This one FR category would house both the outgoing cash (fuel purchases) and the incoming cash (paycheck reimbursements). You might consider hiding it from reports. If you do this, the FR category will not be included in your P&L. I assume the person posting might want to see a personal P&L that excludes the FR category since this basically washes out to zero over time.
It appears James has a reimbursable expense category and a reimbursable income category which he might not hide so that both are included in his P&L. This approach is fine as that might be how he wants to view his P&L. James has one income category and one expense category whereas I mention having just one transfer category.
Of course, all of this is moot unless you are running P&L reports (which I would highly recommend).
Finally, let me explain the concept behind Transfer. The easiest example is probably the moving of money from your savings account to your checking account. Money goes out of your savings account…that sounds like an expense. Money comes into your checking account…that sounds like income. Generally these two statements are true except when the money coming into your checking account is coming out of your savings account. In this case, money is exiting your left pocket and entering your right pocket. You are no poorer and are no richer. Thus, it seems odd to have an expense item and an income item that net to zero. So, with a transfer we have neither and instead have one Transfer category with a zero balance.
So, my approach is to use one Transfer category while James has one expense category and one income category. Both approaches are valid. As the accountants say, debits equal credits so we balance. The two approaches are merely two different ways to get to the same finish line and really differ only in presentation (the way the P&L will look).
FYI – Part of the reason I have separate expense and income reimbursement categories is because I’m reimbursed for mileage. So I have a gas expense, but the mileage reimbursement is more than my cost. This way I can see how much money I “make” or that my hard expenses are covered by the reimbursement.
I have a similar situation as @jameswoosley. With a slightly different approach. I have all the expenses and the reimbursement going directly into one expense account. So this expense line will run negative most of the time then get a deposit and go slightly positive (per diem not completely used and mileage). Currently I just use the Category Tracker Add-On to monitor things. I dont budget for the surplus. Any other solutions people are using out there? Any other pitfall to this approach?
This also seems like the question could evolve into HSA account tracking and things of that nature.
What you are doing is fine. It works for you, you can track and monitor it, and that is what counts. I recommended one transfer category (see above), James had one income category and one expense category, and you have one expense category that collects both expense and income items.
I did track my HSA. You track your medical expenses as normal. If everything is run through payroll, which is normally the case, then you account for everything through transfer category/s and everything nets to zero. If you do not draw down the HSA and just let it grow then that is a little bit different story.
I drew my account down and reimbursed myself currently. Be sure to link the HSA account to Tiller. This all gets a bit complex with many moving parts but it is definitely doable. It will force you to really understand the specifics of your HSA.
