reports question

marpo

I can't find a way to make reports of my deductions. I'm trying to switch from Quicken to Wave, but I have to be able to make customized expense reports for my tax deductions. Is this possible?

Alexia

Hi, @marpo.

Can you give me more details on exactly what you're trying to do? I'll be better able to help you out if I have a better idea of what expense items you're trying to bring up. What information do you need on that report?

Note that we can't give tax advice. I'm happy to help out with the management accounting side of things, but when taxes are involved, it's always a good idea to talk to an accountant.

marpo

I'll tell you what I did in Quicken so you can let me know if Wave can do anything similar. Many of the expense categories are tax deductible for me, so at the end of the year I would go to the Reports tab in Quicken and choose what categories to be listed on the report for the entire year. You probably already know this, but a report is just a read-out, a printable list of whatever you choose. I would choose the categories that are deductible (business meals, postage, etc) and then the list could be printed - each item inside of each category along with its $ amount.

Alexia

Hi, @Marpo.

You wouldn't be able to build a report like that, but you can pull out reports for individual accounts. You won't be able to combine them within Wave, however. It'll give you the same information, you'll just have to export them as individual reports.

Alternatively, you could make a single expense account called "Deductible Expenses" and use that for your reporting needs.

marpo

If I made an account called Deductible Expenses, when I downloaded my bank transactions, would the deductible stuff automatically go into that account ...as long as each item already has an expense category assigned to it? In other words, if I have, let's say, a recurring Internet charge charge every month, and I have it in the Computer-Internet category - and that category is in my Deductible Expenses account - would that item (the internet charge) automatically go into that Deductible account or do I have to move it there manually?
I hope that was understandable.

Alexia

Hi, @marpo.

"Category" and "Account" are synonyms here. Essentially, I'm saying that instead of categorizing your transaction as Computer-Internet, you could just categorize every deductible expense to a category of your creation called "Deductible expenses". It would collect of these transactions together in one place.

It still might be better for you to treat those categories separately, but that's up to your own preference. You'll have better details if those categories or separate, but easier reporting if they are combined.

marpo

I can't deduct my expenses like that. They all have to be in separate categories. It seems like the app would have a checkbox on each category for tax-deductible, or the ability to gather and list the categories of your choice at the end of the year. Anyone who is an traveling independent contractor does their taxes that way.

Alexia

Hi @marpo.

Then your only option, for now, will be to print the reports for those accounts individually.

If you're interested in starting a discussion about this feature idea, I invite you to start one under Wave Features! Our product team often visits that category for ideas for new Wave features. Before you do, however, make sure to read this post. It'll give you the guidelines and best practices for making such a thread.