Transaction types
Reference
Expense, income or transfer: the rule, and how common transactions come out.
You never choose a type for a transaction. Balanced works it out from the postings every time it shows the transaction. Transactions and postings explains the idea; this page lists the rule and the cases.
The rule
Section titled “The rule”Balanced adds up the postings on Assets and Liabilities accounts. Postings on Expenses, Income and Equity don’t count.
| Sum | Kind | Amount in lists |
|---|---|---|
| below 0 | expense | the sum, in red |
| above 0 | income | the sum, in green |
| exactly 0 | transfer | the amount moved, uncolored |
For a transfer, “the amount moved” is the largest posting on an asset or liability account. Next to the amount, each row shows where the money came from → where it went: the accounts with a minus on the left, those with a plus on the right.
Everyday cases
Section titled “Everyday cases”| Transaction | Sum | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries from Checking | −42.80 | expense |
| Groceries by card | −130.00 | expense |
| Salary into Checking | +2,500.00 | income |
| Salary into Checking and Savings | +2,500.00 | income |
| Checking to Savings | 0 | transfer |
| Checking to the card | 0 | transfer |
Paying the card is a transfer: the spending happened when you used the card.
Edge cases
Section titled “Edge cases”| Transaction | Sum | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Opening balance of Checking | +1,200.00 | income |
| Opening balance of a card debt | −300.00 | expense |
| Correction that lowers Checking | −12.30 | expense |
| Loan paid into Checking | 0 | transfer |
| Refund into Checking | +20.00 | income |
| Loan installment with interest | −20.00 | expense |
| Refund to the card | +20.00 | income |
The kind is only for lists
Section titled “The kind is only for lists”The kind decides the color and the amount you see in lists. Your budget doesn’t look at it; it follows its own rules, by account type:
- Opening balance of Checking: shown as income, and it counts towards Available straight away, cleared or not.
- Opening balance of a card debt: shown as an expense, but it doesn’t change Available. Assign money to the card to pay it off.
- Correction that lowers Checking: shown as an expense, and it lowers Available.
- Loan paid into Checking: shown as a transfer, yet the money counts towards Available.
- Refund into Checking: shown as income, but it isn’t income for your budget. Book it on the category you spent from, and the money goes back to that category.
- Loan installment with interest: shown as an expense of the interest. In the budget, the interest is spending from its category, and the rest is a Liability repayment.
- Refund to the card: shown as income, but in the budget the money goes back to the category. See Credit cards.
- Paying the card: a transfer, and in the budget a Liability repayment. It uses up the money set aside for the card.
The exact rules are in Budget formulas.