&Roger.Lum; &Roger.Lum.mail;
2010-07-25
4.5

# Categories

The Categories screen provides a summary of all the existing categories under which transactions are filed. The categories are split into income and expense, and a balance is displayed for each category.

## Creating categories

To create a new category, either select Category New category in the menu, or in the Categories view, select a parent in the tree, right click and select the New Category option. Either way will open the Create new categories wizard. Enter the new category name, and select the currency if the default shown is not correct. In the Hierarchy tab, ensure the required parent account is selected. Finally, in the Tax tab, there is a check box to enable VAT support, and a check box to include this category in certain tax related reports.

Enter the category name any notes and click on OK to save the new category. To create a complete hierarchy of accounts, separate the names by colons (:) as in Bills:Car:Gasoline.

## Editing a Category

To edit a category, right-click on a category name, and choose Edit category. A window comes up with three tabs: General, Hierarchy and Tax.

The General tab allows you to edit the name of the category and any notes you entered when you created the category.

The Hierarchy tab allows you to change the parent category. You can also change the parent category from the main category page by dragging the category to a different parent.

The Tax tab allows you to assign or change VAT category, or alter the automatic VAT assignment. It also allows you to toggle whether or not the category is included in certain tax related reports.

Thomas
Baumgart

    ipwizard@users.sourceforge.net

## VAT Support

You can turn an expense/income category into a VAT category, which means that it receives all the splits that actually make up the VAT payment towards the government. You can also enter a specific percentage rate.

Categories can be assigned a VAT category, which allows &kappname; to split a transaction for a category into two parts, one for the category and one for the VAT. Depending on the setting of the gross/net amount switch, the amount you enter for the transaction is the gross or net amount.

Example: In Germany, there are three VAT percentages (0%, 7%, and 19%). So I have a main category "VAT paid" and three subcategories, one for each percentage rate. I create these on both the income and the expense sides so that I have eight categories in total. For the goods I buy, I select one of the above mentioned categories as the "VAT category assignment".

When I buy goods, I enter them into a transaction. Let's assume I have selected the gross amount entry method, once I enter the category and amount, &kappname; will recognize that there's a VAT assignment and calculate the VAT part, create a second split with the VAT account and VAT amount and reduce the category amount.

The same applies to income categories but the other way around. Hope that makes sense.

## Deleting categories

To delete a category, select it in the tree, right click to bring up the popup menu, and select Delete. If there are any transactions assigned to this category, a popup will allow you to move these to another parent category. If you try to delete a parent category, a dialog allows the choice of either having the sub-categories moved up one level or alternatively having them all deleted at the same time.