Hi @bradsthompson , I am not 100% sure of the answer so I downloaded the help center articles and uploaded them to NotebookLM to help me with areas of Tiller I’m less familiar with. Here is what it said about your issue.
Here’s a breakdown of how you might approach this, addressing your points:
1. Automating Paycheck & 401k Splitting with Tiller’s Saved Splits
Your challenge of creating “8 split transactions and math out the pro-rata contributions for each one every time a get paid” is precisely what Tiller’s Saved Splits feature is designed to alleviate.
• How Saved Splits work : The Tiller Money Feeds extension has a Transaction Splitter tool that allows you to automate splitting transactions among multiple categories. You can “save” your splits for re-use the next time a similar transaction occurs, which is “super handy if you like to track your paycheck deductions”.
• Handling Pro-Rata Contributions : When setting up a Saved Split, you can enter explicit amounts or leave the amount field blank for certain rows . If amounts are left blank for a Saved Split, “the split remainder will be applied evenly across rows with an empty Amount value with uneven cents remainders being applied to the first row with a blank Amount value”. This feature can significantly reduce the manual math for your 8 (or more) pro-rata contributions to various funds.
• Setup Steps : To use Saved Splits, you would typically:
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Open the Saved Splits template and copy it to your Google Sheet.
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Give the split a name and use the same name for all rows that make up the split.
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Enter the details for each split, including categories. For the 401k contributions that are pro-rated, you could leave the amount blank, and the remainder would be evenly distributed.
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Then, when you have a new paycheck transaction, you select it in your Transactions sheet, open the Transaction Splitter, select your Saved Split from the dropdown, and click “Split Transaction”.
2. Grossing Up Your Paycheck and Tracking Employer Match as Income
Your idea of “grossing-up” your direct deposit to represent your full salary, including 401k and tax deductions, is a common user-defined workflow. Tiller’s core Transactions sheet automatically pulls net transactions as they clear your bank. To show gross income, you would manually add positive “income” entries for the gross amount and then corresponding negative “expense” or “transfer” entries for taxes, deductions, and your 401k contribution.
• Employer Match as Income : If you choose to track the employer match as income, this would involve manually adding a transaction (or a split within your paycheck transaction) and assigning it an “Income” type category (e.g., “Employer 401k Match”). Since this money isn’t flowing through your checking account, it’s a way to represent it as income directly into your financial picture.
• Manual Transaction Tools : You can use the Manual Transaction Tool in the Tiller Money Feeds sidebar for adding individual manual transactions.
3. Account Coding: Does it Matter?
Your concern about transactions being “coded to the wrong account” is valid in the context of Tiller’s design.
• Tiller’s Account Column : The Account column in your Transactions sheet is designed to reflect the name of the actual financial account (e.g., “Checking,” “Savings,” or “Investment Account”) where the transaction occurred, as pulled from your bank feed or as nicknamed on the Tiller Console.
• Impact of Manual Coding : If you create manual entries in your checking account’s transaction list that represent money flowing directly into the 401k from your employer (and never touching your checking), it deviates from Tiller’s default “money in, money out” tracking based on direct bank feeds.
• Recommendation :
◦ If your 401k account is linked to Tiller : The contributions (both yours and your employer’s) would typically appear as positive inflows (deposits) on your 401k account’s Transactions sheet. In this scenario, your payroll deduction that leaves your checking account to go to your 401k would be categorized as a Transfer (discussed next). The employer match would appear directly in your 401k account as an inflow.
◦ If your 401k account is NOT linked to Tiller : In this case, the money “leaves” your tracked financial ecosystem. Your contribution from your paycheck is a deduction, and the employer match is typically not reflected as a transaction in your checking account. You could manually add an “income” transaction for the employer match, potentially categorizing it to an “Investment Income” category. The portion of your paycheck that is your 401k deduction could be categorized as an “Expense” (e.g., “Retirement Contributions”) from your checking account’s perspective, as the money is leaving your accessible funds.
4. 401k Deduction and Employer Match as Transfers vs. Expenses
This is a key decision for how your budget and cash flow are displayed.
• Understanding Transfers : A “Transfer” type category is typically used for money moving between two accounts that are both linked in your Tiller spreadsheet . By default, transfers do not show up on your budget dashboards or affect your cash flow calculations, because they are just moving money you already own from one pocket to another.
• Categorizing 401k Contributions :
◦ Your 401k Deduction (Outflow from Checking) : If your 401k account is linked to Tiller , and the payroll deduction for 401k is part of a transaction from your checking account, you would typically categorize this outflow as a Transfer (e.g., “401k Contribution Transfer”) to avoid double-counting it as an expense and seeing the inflow to your 401k account. However, if you want to reflect this as part of your budgeted expenses (to ensure you allocate money to it), you could create an “Expense” type category (e.g., “401k Employee Contributions”) for this outflow. Tiller offers flexibility here, stating that “even though these are also transfers, you may want to track them to ensure you allocate money toward them each month”.
◦ Employer Match (Inflow to 401k) : If your 401k account is linked to Tiller , the employer match would appear as a positive inflow on your 401k’s Transactions sheet. You would categorize this as a Transfer (e.g., “Employer 401k Match Transfer”), and typically hide it from reports if you don’t want it affecting your income calculations, as it’s a transfer of value into your assets.
◦ If your 401k account is NOT linked to Tiller :
Your 401k Deduction: This can be categorized as an Expense (e.g., “Retirement Savings”) because the money is leaving your directly tracked accounts and is being “spent” towards future savings.
Employer Match: If you want to track this, you would need to manually add it as an “Income” transaction in your spreadsheet (e.g., to a manually tracked 401k account if you create one) using an “Income” type category (e.g., “Employer 401k Income”).
In Summary:
• Leverage Saved Splits : This is your best bet for automating the complex splitting of your paycheck, including the pro-rata contributions.
• Account Coding : Stick to Tiller’s Account column reflecting the actual bank account where the transaction occurred. If you’re “grossing up” your paycheck, you’re essentially creating a manual representation of your gross income and deductions within your checking account’s transactions. If your 401k is linked, the contributions will show up in the 401k account’s transactions.
• Transfers vs. Expenses :
◦ If your 401k is linked : Your contribution could be an Expense (for budgeting purposes) or a Transfer (to avoid double-counting if you want to see the inflow in the 401k account). The employer match (inflow to 401k) would typically be a Transfer , possibly hidden from reports.
◦ If your 401k is NOT linked : Your contribution is likely an Expense . The employer match, if you track it, would be a manual Income entry.
