Splasm Software Discussions

I have also recently switched to Mac and wanting to leave the Quicken universe.

I am demoing 1.8 but I cannot figure out how to setup a paycheck.

I see a lot of talk about how it will work in 2.0, but that seems like a long way off, since I was seeing discussions about it in Sept 06.

Any help will be useful.

Michael

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Michael Ramm
Computer Systems Manager
City of Northport, AL

Mac Switcher since March 2007

Are you looking for a way to set up a recurring transaction for your paychecks? CheckBook's Schedules can handle that. Click on the Schedule tab at the bottom of the CheckBook window to see the controls for managing your Schedules. They're pretty much the same as regular Debits and Deposits, with an extra Schedule section to describe how often and/or how many times to repeat. You might find answers to any questions in the "Scheduled Entries" section in CheckBook's Help, available under CheckBook's Help menu. Let us know if you need additional details not covered in the Help.

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Keith Gugliotto
Primordial Sea Captain
Splasm Software
https://www.splasm.com

I really want to keep track of my deductions.

I was looking at

Gross Pay $1500.00
Fed Tax -100.00
State Tax -100.00
FICA -100.00
Retirement -200.00
Net Pay 1000.00 [entered into the register]

Scheduled Bi-weekly.

Everytime that I go to the Split section, all of the splits are totalled up and the sum is entered into the register.

I don't really understand WHY all of the Mac Personal Finance apps do not have a mechinism for setting up a paycheck. That is one of the first 5 things that Quicken has you do when you start a new account. You can only EXPEND so long before the $$ runs out.

Michael

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Michael Ramm
Computer Systems Manager
City of Northport, AL

Mac Switcher since March 2007

Things aren't working the way you expect because CheckBook 1.x does not allow both positive and negative values in the same Split. That, and several other parts of the Splits feature, will definitely change in CheckBook 2.0. To be truthful, the changes are already in the current build of 2.0. With Splits working properly you'd have no problem setting up a single Scheduled Deposit for wages, withholding and other deductions.

CheckBook 2.0 is well underway with a full head of steam behind it. We're down to a handful of major features and may even hold off on a couple of them for one or more follow-up updates so we can get what's finished out the door. So much of it is downright useful that I think a lot of our users would agree it's a shame we're holding it back and keeping them from enjoying our work.

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Keith Gugliotto
Primordial Sea Captain
Splasm Software
https://www.splasm.com

So, how do people setup and follow their paychecks? Do they just input the net pay and be done with it??

Inquiring minds want to know!

Michael

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Michael Ramm
Computer Systems Manager
City of Northport, AL

Mac Switcher since March 2007

That or they can set up a Deposit for the full wage amount and a Debit with any withholding as separate Split line items. The former will be easier to reconcile, but if paychecks are the only exception to remember when reconciling then it's probably not hard to go with the latter.

Unfortunately, using Splits with deductions won't get you everything you need come tax time, though of course your pay stubs and/or W-2 should. What's wrong is that CheckBook 1.x doesn't summarize Split line items in the Account Summary, preventing you from getting separate totals for each type of withholding. We already have this, as well as per-line item Categories, working properly in CheckBook 2.0, making the Account Summary a lot more useful.

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Keith Gugliotto
Primordial Sea Captain
Splasm Software
https://www.splasm.com

Here is the method I use: I set up my schedule with all of the entries I need whether it be income (Gross amount) or expenses (Deductions for FT, ST, SS, MED, Local taxes, medical insurance, what have you). Most of those items will be the same each time. When the schedule pops up, I do a quick check of the amounts to make sure they are indeed correct and then confirm.

Yes you end up with a number of lines for each check but to me it's no big deal.

This method gives me exact data I need for determining which items and their amounts can be deducted on income tax. For example, insurance premiums show up as an expense on my monthly and/or yearly reports.

Hope this helps.

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Wayne Dreier

Using OS X 10.5.1