Split Payments

Split Payments

Sometimes you need to explain a payment with two different categories.

To do so, set up your first payment as normal, then click the Split the transaction between categories button. This lets you fill in a second explanation for the payment.

It also lets you specify the amount of the transaction that each explanation gets. It works like this:

  • DoubleAgent processes the explanation with the non-blank Amount first.
  • DoubleAgent looks at the Amount field's text and:
    • if it is a fixed amount (e.g. 5.00), uses that;
    • if it is a percentage amount (e.g. 1.6%), calculates how much that is;
    • if it contains {{}}, looks in the transaction's description and extracts the corresponding number.
  • DoubleAgent explains that amount of the transaction with this explanation.
  • DoubleAgent then explains the rest of the transaction with the other explanation.
Example

I pay a monthly subscription to GitHub. GitHub is a U.S. company so it charges me in dollars.

The transactions look like this in my Barclays account:

GITHUB.COM 5LT USA AMOUNT IN USD 7.00 ON 13 NOV VISA FX RATE 1.306129 FINAL GBP AMOUNT INCLUDES NON-STERLING TRANS FEE $0.15///£5.51

I need to split the explanation between two categories:

  • the actual GBP equivalent of the $7 payment to GitHub;
  • the transaction fee added by Barclays for processing a non-GBP payment.

You could set up a rule like this:

  • The second explanation has a non-blank Amount so DoubleAgent processes it first.
  • DoubleAgent looks for TRANS FEE ${{}} in the transaction's description.
    • In this case, it matches TRANS FEE $0.15, with {{}} extracting 0.15.
    • (Although the description says $0.15, the fee is actually £0.15! You can verify this using the FX rate given: $7.00 / 1.306129 = £5.36, which means a fee of £5.51 - £5.36 = £0.15. It's a quirk of Barclays: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
  • DoubleAgent explains £0.15 of the transaction with this explanation.
  • Next, DoubleAgent processes the other explanation.
  • The Amount field is blank, so DoubleAgent sets it to the left-over balance.
    • In this case, the amount is set to £5.51 - £0.15 = £5.36.

We always recommend doing a dry run (by clicking the Dry Run button) to see whether your rule does what you want.


See the Explaining Paypal transactions article for another example of split explanations.