[moneydance] Tags

[Stan]

On 11/19/2008 at 1:38 PM Edward Reid wrote:

>At 11:32 11/19/08 -0600, Phil Scherzinger wrote:
>>Can some one explain what a 'tag' is and what it can be used for?
>
>A tag is an additional form of classification, independent of the Category

>and no constrained by double-entry rules.


I have a "No Receipt" tag set up.

When I'm reconciling an account and a transaction appears in the statement
for which I have no receipt, I enter it so I can reconcile the account, but
I also tag it.  Then I use it for two things...

I can run a report listing all the transactions for which there was no
receipt, and hand it to my wife to confirm that the transactions are
legitimate.  ("Oh, yeah, I stopped at McDonald's on Tuesday.  She must have
stuck the receipt in the bag.  I hate when they do that.")

The other thing it helps with is that, if the receipt turns up later, and I
see that there's already a transaction entered into Moneydance for it,
there's no confusion over whether there were actually two ATM withdrawals
for the same amount on the same date or not.  I have a receipt, the
transaction is already entered, but it's tagged as "No Receipt," so I
simply untag it and file the receipt away.

I keep thinking there are other things it should be good for, but most of
the time, I either don't want to bother with that level of detail
(Auto:Fuel for my car vs. my wife's), or I find that setting up a new
category is a better way to handle the situation.

I started to play around with it for business travel expenses, so that I
could block together all the expenses for each expense report, but just
about the time I got it figured out, I changed jobs and none of that
applied anymore.  I think this is sort of a textbook use of tags,
cross-referencing transactions.  Categories would let me block together
business expenses to be reimbursed for travel vs. lodging vs. meals, while
tags would let me block together all the expenses that went on one business
report, as well as the reimbursement check, and ultimately, the total for
each tag should be zero as all the expenses are reimbursed.

Stan