Unspecified Business Expense
Found at:
The answer may or may not involve a tag; and if it does involve a tag, it's not necessarily "what tag?", but more likely what type of tag.
Most of the Quicken users/SuperUsers who respond regularly in the Quicken Community do NOT use the Business/Rental Property edition of Quicken, so those users frequently stumble when trying to respond to questions such as the one posed in the Community discussion above. Quicken employees should refrain from trying to help unless they can do a better job.
The simplest useful response to the user's question is to have the user look at the foot of any report that contains the "unspecified business [or rental] expenses" - at the foot of the report will be found a link to the Quicken Help article that is pertinent (one Help article for "unspecified business expenses" a different Help article for "unspecified rental expenses". Both articles are very helpful - though they could be improved slightly.
Because the current Quicken Help can not be copy/pasted; I have gone back to Q2010 and copied its Help article for unresolved business expenses (which is basically the same as the current Help article), made a few improvements, and am including the result here.
From Q2010 Rental Property Manager Help.
How do I resolve an unspecified business income/expense transaction? An unspecified business income/expense transaction will meet one or more of the following criteria. Such a transaction is considered resolved when it no longer contains any of the following conditions:
- The transaction uses a category with a Schedule C tax line item, but it does not include a business tag. How do I resolve this? Quicken needs to know the business this transaction is for. You have two options:
1.) Tag the transaction (in its account register or in the report) with the appropriate business tag. 2.) Edit your "Manage Business Information" to select the check box named Untagged business transactions belong to this business. Quicken then assumes all transactions belong to this business, even when you don't specifically tag the transaction with a business tag.- The transaction has more than one business tag. How do I resolve this? You have two options:
1.) Retag the transaction (in its account register or in the report) so it includes a single business tag. 2.) Split the category to make each business a separate line.- The transaction includes a business tag, but the category does not include a tax line item. How do I resolve this? You have three options:
1.) You can change the transaction category (in its account register or in the report) to one that already includes a Schedule C tax line item. 2.) You can add a Schedule C tax line item to the existing category of the transaction (in the Category List). 3.) You can assign a Schedule C tax line item directly to the transaction (in its account register, or in the report).- The transaction uses the category named "Not Sure Biz", or it uses a category with the tax line item Schedule C:Unspecified Business Expense or Schedule C:Unspecified Business Income. How do I resolve this? You need to assign a category to the transaction (in its account register or in the report) that uses a valid tax line item.
If the transaction uses the "Not Sure Biz" Expense category, change the category to one that uses the correct Schedule C tax line item. If the transaction uses a category with the Schedule C:Unspecified Business Expense tax line item or the Schedule C:Unspecified Business Income tax line item, change the tax line item to one that is valid.
- The transaction is in an invoice/receivables or accounts payable account without the appropriate category. How do I resolve this? You need to assign the appropriate category.
[To edit transactions in a report: Select the desired transaction(s) in the report - as you would select multiple files in Windows Explorer) - then either click the report Edit button and choose the desired action, or right-click a selected transaction and choose the desired action. Note: you can NOT Edit split transactions in reports; you must edit them, one-by-one, in their account registers.] [If a transaction must be edited in its account register, you can go directly to that transaction in its register by double-clicking the report transaction.]