Separating Business and Personal Finances with Categories
Applies to: Quicken Business & Personal
Overview
Categories in Quicken Business & Personal help you separate business and personal finances—while managing everything in one place. Every transaction is assigned a category (like Groceries, Utilities, or Office Supplies) so your spending totals, budgets, and reports reflect what your money was actually used for.
Quicken Business & Personal can automatically suggest categories based on your activity, and you can edit or create categories anytime to match how you track your household and business finances.
Example:
After six months, Marcus noticed his Professional Services costs were higher than expected. By splitting that category into subcategories—Accounting, Legal, and IT Support—he quickly identified where he could reduce costs and improve profitability.
Tip: Start with the default categories and refine only what you need. A simpler category list keeps reports clearer and easier to maintain.
Why Categories Matter
Categories turn downloaded transactions into meaningful financial insights. They help you:
Track spending patterns so you can see where money is going
Build accurate budgets based on real spending
Separate business and personal activity for cleaner reporting
Support tax-time tracking by keeping business expenses organized throughout the year
Example:
If you buy items at the same store for different purposes (like Costco), categories help you keep spending separated—so business purchases stay business-related and personal purchases stay personal.
Personal Categories (Household Tracking)
Personal categories help you understand lifestyle spending and set realistic budgets. Common personal categories include:
Home (mortgage, utilities, maintenance)
Transportation (car payment, fuel, insurance)
Food and dining
Entertainment
Healthcare
Savings goals
You can customize personal categories to fit your life—such as pet care, kids’ activities, or hobbies.
Example:
Ashley tracked her family’s takeout spending and realized Dining Out was higher than expected. She set a monthly limit and redirected the difference into a Vacation Savings category.
Business Categories (Business Tracking)
Business categories help you monitor cash flow, understand costs, and stay organized for tax reporting. Common business categories include:
Business income
Office expenses and supplies
Utilities (business)
Travel and meals
Professional services
Equipment and tools
If you manage both business and personal finances in Quicken Business & Personal, keeping business transactions consistently categorized helps you review performance and plan ahead with more confidence.
Examples:
A freelance designer uses Business Income categories to track revenue sources and Business Expense categories to track deductible tools and services.
A bakery owner categorizes purchases as Ingredients and Packaging to better understand product costs and profitability.
Tracking Income with Categories
Categories aren’t just for expenses—they’re also important for organizing income. When deposits are categorized correctly, your reports and summaries show where money is coming from.
Examples of income categories:
Personal income: Paychecks, interest, dividends, refunds
Business income: Client payments, sales income, reimbursements
You can use subcategories to group income sources when you want more detail, such as income by project type or revenue stream.
Example:
Alice works as a full-time teacher. On weekends and during the summer, she also works as a freelance wedding photographer. She uses Business Income: Weddings to track her photography revenue and Personal Income: Paycheck to track her school district income. This keeps her household and business income clearly separated in reports and summaries.
How Automatic Categorization Works
When transactions download from your bank, Quicken may suggest categories based on your transaction history and the merchant name. You can review and change categories anytime to keep your tracking accurate.
For recurring transactions, you can also create rules—for example, automatically categorizing all Adobe charges as a business software expense.
Tips for Effective Categorization
Use these habits to keep business and personal tracking accurate over time:
Stay consistent. Similar transactions should use the same categories.
Keep it simple. Use broad categories, and add subcategories only when you need more detail.
Review regularly. Check transactions weekly to catch miscategorized items early.
Use tags for extra detail. Tags are useful for tracking things like a client, project, or event without creating more categories.
Plan for taxes (business users). Mapping business categories to tax line items can make year-end review easier.
Example:
Instead of creating multiple meal categories for every client, one user keeps a simple meals category and uses tags like Client A for client-specific totals.
Creating Categories
From the Settings Menu
Go to Settings > Categories & tags.
Click + Category.
Enter the category name.
For subcategories, choose Subcategory of and select the parent.
Select Expense or Income, then Personal or Business.
(Optional) To track for taxes, toggle Tax related on and select the tax form line.
Click Create.
From a Transaction (Quick Method)
In any transaction’s Category field, type the new category name.
Hover over Create when it appears.
Choose whether it’s a main or subcategory.
Select Personal or Business.
Editing or Deleting Categories
Most categories can be edited or deleted, except for system ones like Transfer, Credit Card Payment, Balance Adjustment, and Investment.
To edit or delete:
Go to Settings > Categories & tags.
Hover over the category.
Click the three dots (⋮) and select Edit or Delete.
Follow the prompts to confirm.
If a deleted category is in use, Quicken Business & Personal will ask you to reassign those transactions to another category first.
Best Practices
Start broad and refine only where needed
Use clear, reusable category names
Keep business and personal tracking consistent
Review your categories quarterly or before tax season
Outcome: With a clean category structure, Quicken Business & Personal can deliver accurate budgets, clearer reports, and a more organized view of both your business and household finances.