Quicken Windows Help

How do I track my employer's 401(k) matching contribution if I haven't set up my paycheck?

Many companies contribute matching funds to their employees' 401(k) plans. If you've included your employer matching contributions in your Quicken paycheck setup, a special category has already been created to track these funds. If you've not yet set up your paycheck in Quicken, you can track these contributions separately from your own contributions in an investment or asset account.

If you're using an asset account to track your 401(k), you can either enter the contribution as a split transaction, with your contribution and your company's contribution as separate items in the split, or as separate transactions.

If you're using an investment account to track your company's contributions, follow these steps.

If you're using an investment account to track your employer's contributions, do the following for each contribution:

  1. Open your 401(k) account.

  2. Enter your employer's contribution as an income transaction.Tell me howClick Enter Transactions.In the Enter Transaction list, select Inc - Income.In this field of the Income dialogDo the followingTransaction dateEnter the date the contribution was made.Security nameLeave blank.CategoryEnter Comp401k as the category.MiscellaneousEnter the dollar amount of your employer's contribution.

  3. Enter your employer's contribution as a Buy transaction.Tell me howClick Enter Transactions.In the Enter Transaction list, select Buy - Shares Bought.In this field of the Shares Bought dialogDo the followingTransaction dateEnter the date the contribution was made.Security nameEnter the name of the security for your 401(k) plan.Number of sharesEnter the number of shares shown on your statement.Price paidEnter the price from your statement.

  4. Enter your own contribution as a Buy transaction.
    Tell me howClick Enter TransactionsIn the Enter Transaction list, select Inc - Income.In this field of the Shares Bought dialogDo the followingTransaction dateEnter the date the contribution was made.Security nameEnter the name of the security for your 401(k) plan.Number of sharesEnter the number of shares shown on your statement.Price paidEnter the price from your statement.

Notes

The easiest way to capture your employer's contribution to a 401(k) account is to set up a paycheck transaction in Quicken.

If you're using a 401(k) account, you'll capture your employer's matching funds during the update process, even if you haven't set up a paycheck transaction.