Keeping track of shared group expenses

Google Sheets
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Does anyone have a good way of keeping track of debts owed by friends/family etc? Eg - I’m travelling with a group of friends and someone gets the bill, say for dinner, or accommodation etc. In the case that someone else gets the bill, then I can easily pay them my potion and categorise the transaction accordingly. However, if I get the bill, then I (A) have a large transaction that doesn’t fit into any (existing) category and (B) have to send out a message to each person with whom the expense is shared, and keep track of who’s paid me back. Any tips or tricks around how to work with such transactions AND to make sure that everyone is squared up would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi @charlienz,
Here’s one way to handle this.

First, you need to set up a new Category and Account to handle this. Call the Category “Accounts Due” [or Accounts Payable or Reimbursements Due or something like that]. Use the Category type Transfer since this is not income or an expense.

Create a new Account with the same name. Click here for how to add a manually added account.

Let’s say a transaction appears in your Tiller transactions for a dinner you paid $100 but you split with 4 people. You might use the category Dinner or Restaurant for the transaction. You are owed $75 and your dinner expense is really $25 to you, not $100 and that’s how it will wind up.

Insert a new row and add a transaction under the original transaction with:

  • Date: Same as the original transaction.
  • Description: Something like Dinner Reimbursements Due. You could include the restaurant name.
  • Category: Your new category, such as Accounts Due.
  • Amount: This should but the amount you are due. In this case $75. Make it a positive number.
  • Account: Your new account, such as Accounts Due.

You will have $75 in your Accounts Due Category and Account. So you are NOT squared up.

As people repay you and those transactions appear in your Transactions sheet, give those transactions the Category you originally used, such as Dinner. When you are fully paid back, the Dinner category will have a $25 expense, which is your portion.

When these repayments happen, add a transaction with:

  • Date: Same as the reimbursement transaction.
  • Description: Something like Dinner Reimbursements. You could include the restaurant name.
  • Category: Your new category, such as Accounts Due.
  • Amount: The amount of the reimbursement. This should be a negative number since less is now due.
  • Account: Your new account, such as Accounts Due.

When you are fully paid back, Dinner category will (correctly) total $25 and the Accounts Due Category and Account will be zero. If they are not zero, you are still owed something.

2 Likes
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Great - that all makes sense. Thanks @jono

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