Managing Categories
Overview
Categories help you organize your transactions by labeling income and spending in ways that match your life. Every transaction—whether downloaded or entered manually—uses a category. These categories drive your spending insights, reports, budgets, and tax-related summaries.
Simplifi users use categories to understand and plan their personal finances.
Quicken Business & Personal users can categorize both personal and business transactions, supporting budgeting, tax tracking, and business financial oversight.
A clear, well-maintained category structure keeps your financial picture accurate.
Why Managing Categories Matters
Categories transform raw transactions into insights. With accurate categorization, you can:
Track spending patterns — quickly see where your money goes.
Maximize tax deductions — ensure business expenses are captured correctly (Quicken Business & Personal users only).
Build accurate budgets — understand true spending trends and plan confidently.
Separate personal and business spending — maintain clean, audit-ready records (Quicken Business & Personal users only).
Good categorization improves accuracy across reports, budgets, and tax preparation.
How Categories Are Assigned
When transactions are downloaded, categories are assigned automatically using:
The payee name
Your past categorization choices
Crowdsourced logic
Over time, the system learns your habits and becomes more accurate.
Example:
After you categorize a few Bruno’s Groceries purchases as Groceries, future charges from that store will be assigned correctly.
Example (Quicken Business & Personal):
Categorizing a vendor as Software Subscription causes future purchases from that vendor to automatically use the same business category.
Why You Should Review Categories
Automatic categorization is helpful, but not always perfect:
Retailers often sell mixed items
Categories may not match your personal or business reporting needs
Tax-related expenses require specific categorization
Example (Personal):
A pharmacy purchase mis-categorized as Groceries won’t appear in your medical spending totals.
Example (Business):
A hardware-store purchase for supplies for your gardening business was categorized as Personal:Home Improvement should instead be Business: Equipment for proper tax reporting.
Reviewing categories ensures your budgets, spending summaries, and tax reports remain accurate.
How to Review and Fix Categories
Open your transaction list.
Review Transactions and the Category column.
If a category is incorrect, choose the correct one from the list.
Viewing Categories
Click the Settings gear icon (bottom left).
Select Categories & tags.
This page shows all built-in and custom categories.
Creating a Category
If an appropriate category doesn’t exist, create your own.
From Categories & Tags dashboard:
Go to Settings > Categories & tags.
Click + Category.
Enter the category name.
If creating a subcategory, choose a parent category in Subcategory of.
Select whether it’s an Expense or Income category.
For Quicken Business & Personal users: Choose Personal or Business.
(Optional) Add tax information:
Open Tax Info
Toggle Tax Related on
Select the tax form and line item
Click Create.
From a Transaction:
In any transaction's Category field, type the new category name.
Hover over Create when it appears.
Select Main Category or Subcategory of.
Choose Business or Personal.
If subcategory, select the parent category.
Editing a Category
Go to Settings > Categories & tags.
Click the three-dot menu beside the category.
Select Edit.
Make your changes.
Click Update.
Deleting a Category
Go to Settings > Categories & tags.
Click the three-dot menu next to the category.
Select Delete.
Confirm deletion.
If the category is used in existing transactions, you'll be prompted to reassign those transactions before deletion.
Tip: If historical accuracy is important, you may prefer hiding a category rather than deleting it.
Best Practices
Start simple: Too many categories make categorization harder.
Use clear names: “Client Meals” or “Vet Care” is more helpful than “Misc.”
Be consistent: Similar purchases should use the same category.
Build for your needs: Create categories you’ll actually use in reports.
Use structure wisely: Categories support up to three levels (main → sub → second-level subcategory).
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Creating unnecessary categories
Using vague names like Miscellaneous
Forgetting tax settings for business-related categories (Quicken Business & Personal)
Categorizing refunds as expenses or vice versa
Category Strategy Tips
For personal budgeting (Simplifi and Quicken Business & Personal):
Keep categories broad enough for planning but specific enough to be meaningful.
Use subcategories for areas where you want more detail, like Pet Care or Kids’ Activities.
For business tracking (Quicken Business & Personal):
Use categories that align with your business needs and tax reporting.
Create subcategories for deductible items such as Subscriptions, Contractors, or Client Meals.
For deeper insights:
Add granularity where it matters.
Hide or merge categories you no longer use.
The Bottom Line
Categories are essential in Simplifi and Quicken Business & Personal. A strong category structure helps you understand your spending, manage business costs when applicable, prepare for taxes, and create accurate budgets. Start simple, check categories regularly, and adjust your system as your financial life evolves.