Mileage to and from doctors, hospitals, etc are deductible. Rather than manually add an entry in TTax, I would like Quicken to track it so TTax could pick it up automatically. Is there a way to do this? No money actually flows although my net worth decreases by the amount needed to operate my car.
Maybe I'm just Quickenly knowledgeable, but with no "money flow," what is Quicken supposed to track?
Notan
Stubby wrote in news:f4ydnQZelNTKVn3enZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
I have an account called "Cash" which I use to track miscellaneous expenses that have tax consequences. For each trip I make an entry. The Payee is "Doctor Jones" or "HomeTown Pharmacy". I use a category (sub category of "medical") called "Mileage" which is connected to Schedule A, Medical Travel. In the memo field I put "6 miles @ .22" and in the Spend field I put $1.32 (which I calculated manually). TTax picks it up just fine.
BTW Every January I enter a adjustment to reset the accout balance to 0.
Major faux pas: That should've been, "Maybe I'm just NOT..."
Makes a difference, huh?
Notan
I do exactly as described here for medical mileage. Also use this same account for non-cash charity contributions.
But where does the $1.32 come from? If you take it out of your Pocket Cash account, then you'll have to put a Balance Adjustment on Pocket Cash to make it right. Quicken needs a "Virtual Money" concept.
Stubby wrote in news:nuydncnEoJadr3zenZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
I don't track the amount of cash in my pocket, wallet, under the sofa cushions, piggy bank etc. Neither do I track most cash purchases. Except those that have tax implications, like cash donations to charity, tolls when going on job interviews etc.
As Stubby said, I also use this account to track non-cash charitable contributions. For example next week my public library is having their annual book drive. They sell donated used books for a buck. So when I drop off 35 old books, I make an entry in my Cash account showing that I "spent" $35 in category "Charity:non-cash". These entries flow nicely to my Schedule A each April.
This method works well for me. The only downside is that it shows a negative balance all year which throws off my net worth a little bit. But it never amounts to more than a couple of hundred bucks each year. I suppose for each "spend" transaction I could add an offsetting "receive" transaction (with a meaningless category) to keep the balance 0.
Assuming you make a Quicken entry to record expense of each medical vist, then also make entries for No-Charge visits. At year end count the number of vists (an itemized category report, by payee, selecting medical expense categories), multiply by the mileage for your usual trip, by the allowance amount, and make two entries (for each provider, or just in total, your preference):
category amount medical-exp-tax $ xxxx this category flagged as tax medical-exp-offset -xxxx this category not so flagged
Yes, there are days you drove father/shorter, but for the small amounts involved, this is an adequate approximation.
If the initial assumption above is correct, then with these two year end entries (I do two for each payee) milage is included in tax related medical expense with minimal effort (I think) and without any other impact.
dick w
Or you can customize and save a "NET WORTH" report and not include that specific category.
|But where does the $1.32 come from?
Take it out of Auto Expense. The same $1.32 cannot count as both a medical expense and an Auto expense!
Phil
I set up an account called Tax Info. I use split transaction. I enter the mileage amount with the appropriate category for turbotax to pick up and also have a category called zero in which I enter the negative of that value. This keeps the account balance at zero, but the amount needed for Taxes is there. I also use this for non-Cash Donations and IRA contributions which don't show up easily because they are usually transfers.
BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.