Viewing and Editing Category Mappings for Tax Reports

Overview

Every income and expense category in Quicken Business & Personal is linked—or mapped—to a line on an IRS form such as Schedule C (Business), Schedule E (Rental), or Schedule F (Farm). These mappings determine where your transactions appear in your Tax Reports, which are designed to help you or your accountant prepare your tax return.

You may need to view or edit category mappings if:

• You’ve created custom categories that aren’t automatically linked to a tax line.

• You want to confirm that existing categories map to the correct IRS form and line.

• You manage multiple types of income (business, rental, or farm) and want to ensure each is reported properly.

• You’re preparing for tax season and want confidence that your reports reflect all deductible income and expenses.

Category mapping is the foundation of accurate tax reporting. By reviewing and, when necessary, editing your category mappings, you can ensure that your financial data is properly aligned with IRS requirements—making your tax preparation easier, faster, and more reliable.

Note: Quicken Business & Personal does not create or file tax returns. However, its tax reports can be used to prepare your return or exported directly into professional tax software such as TurboTax.

Viewing Category Mappings

You can view your category mappings to confirm which IRS form and line each category feeds into.

1. On your Dashboard, click the Settings gear icon (bottom left).

2. Select Categories & Tags.

3. The list shows each category’s:

   • Name

   • Type (Income or Expense)

   • Tax Form (Schedule C, E, or F)

   • Tax Line Item

This view helps you see how your financial activity connects to your tax forms.
For example:

• Advertising (Business) → Schedule C, Line 8

• Rental Property Income → Schedule E, Part I

• Feed (Farm) → Schedule F, Line 18

If a category doesn’t display a Tax Form & Line Item, it means the category isn’t currently mapped for tax reporting.

Editing Category Mappings

You can edit or assign a tax mapping if a category:

• Was created manually and doesn’t have a tax line assigned.

• Is mapped to an incorrect form or line.

• Needs to be reclassified between business, rental, or farm reporting.

To edit a category mapping:

1. On your Dashboard, click the Settings gear icon (bottom left).

2. Select Categories & Tags.

3. Find the category you want to update and click the three-dot icon on the right.

4. Select Edit, then choose Tax Info.

5. Review or update the Tax Form and Tax Line Item.

6. Click Select Tax Group if you need to change the IRS form (Schedule C, E, or F).

7. Click Update to save your changes.

Once saved, Quicken automatically associates that category with the new tax line—ensuring your Tax Reports reflect the correct totals going forward.

Scenario: Adjusting a Custom Category

Example:
Elena, a consultant, creates a custom category called Social Media Ads (Business) to track her digital ad spend separately. By default, it has no tax mapping.

She opens Categories & Tags, selects the category, and edits the Tax Info to assign it to Schedule C Line 8 (Advertising).
Now, all expenses categorized under Social Media Ads (Business) will appear under Advertising in her Schedule C Tax Report.

Scenario: Reviewing Rental Categories

Example:
Ben manages several rental units and wants to ensure his Repairs (Rental) and Utilities (Rental) categories are assigned correctly.

By reviewing the Tax Form & Line Item column under Categories & Tags, he confirms both are mapped to Schedule E Part I, ensuring his Rental Tax Report correctly displays these expenses at year-end.

Best Practices

• Review all custom or modified categories to verify their tax line assignments.

• Check category mappings annually—especially before tax season.

• Avoid changing built-in categories unless necessary.

• Deactivate unused categories to keep your reports clean and focused.

• After editing, rerun your Tax Reports to confirm updates appear as expected.