Enter Income Taxes in Quicken? yes/no?

[natedog242]

I use Quicken (offline) to track my finances. Until recently I've been recording our income taxes when entering paychecks. Now I just enter the amount of the paycheck and ignore the taxes.

My experience has been that when I record income taxes, it's just extra hassle because I'm not able to get realistic income/expense figures. I don't ever physically see (except tax return) the tax money and therefore it looks like I spent more and made more than I actually did. I know you technically "make" tax money and spend it on taxes, but the it doesn't seem to help in my budgeting.

What is your opinion? I'm still trying to decide whether or not it's worth the effort to record.

[zetta]

I don't think it's worth the effort. The only time I use the tax figure is for checking withholding is not too much/little, and you can get the cumulative amount from your paystub.

[kork13]

I'm not sure how quicken works, but in my budget, I call my tax withholding just another expense. It's regular and foreseeable, so I figure it's easier. Besides, I do the rest of my budget off of gross income, so again, it's just easier for me. But really, just figure out what works for you personally, and do it.

[MonkeyMama]

I record it, but since my paycheck is the same every pay period, it doesn't take any effort. I personally like having the complete picture and having my gross income and taxes in there, etc.

That being said, I customize my expense reports to exclude taxes. I kind of just look at my expenses and compare that to my net income. I don't look at the payroll taxes most the year when I am monitoring our expenses.

I am a tax person though, and the taxes matter to me. If you don't care, I am sure it's fine to just skip it.

[natedog242]

Thanks for the responses. I just wanted to make sure my attempt to save time now wouldn't bite me in the rear later. But it looks like no red flags were thrown up and as zetta said I can always get tax figures from paystubs.