Cannot delete or add payment categories

Question

Hi,

I have two issues with payment categories:

* There are duplicate categories for "solo money account". They are identical, so I want to delete duplicates, but when I try I get the following error: "Unable to delete this category. This category has transactions or it's needed for your accounting purposes". I assume this is because there are some expenses codes to the category. Is there any way to work around this?
* I have added a payment category for my superannuation fund. It appears in my "all categories" list in settings, but does not appear as an option when trying to record an invoice payment. What am I not doing here?

Thanks

Sean.

Sigrid-Solo · Answer

Ohh the plot thickens!

I think I need to take a closer look at your actual Solo file, so that I definitely have the full picture.

We'll be going through some of your personal data, so I'll move this chat from the forum and send you an email to I can get some more details from you 😄

Chat soon!

SConnaughton · Answer

Hi Sigrid,

Re duplicates, I actually have three identical categories, all called "solo money account" and all with the exact same bank details and tax code. The only difference is that one is showing as the selected payment category for income (the other two do not have a payment category listed).... I don't recall ever creating these.

Re superannuation category, it shows up as an asset in 'all categories', but differs from bank accounts in that there's no BSB/acct number section. Even though it's listed as an asset, it doesn't show up as an option when recording payment. The specific issue I'm having is that I invoice someone for services who makes the super contribution on my behalf, which means they pay me the invoice minus the super amount. I need a way to record the super contribution so the invoice can be signed off as 'paid'. Right now it looks like an outstanding amount.

Thanks (and sorry for my delayed response)

Sigrid-Solo · Answer

Hey @SConnaughton

Oooh we've got a couple of curly categories going on here, so let's see what we can do! 😄

Duplicated categories

Your assumptions are correct here. Basically, if a category is in use, then it's not possible to delete it, but you can edit the category name to make finding the categorised transactions easier if you need to edit them. That said, it's worth checking how you've ended up with two identical categories. Are they completely identical, or is there a difference in any settings, such as type, GST, payment category vs. standard category? Do you remember if you created a category for the Solo Money account, or do they seem to have been created by the app?

Superannuation category

It sounds like the category might not be set up as a payment category. If you head to All categories and open it, do you see a section called "Bank account details"? If not, then it's set up as a standard category as opposed to a payment category. Payment categories are bank accounts where transactions take place, so when recording a payment for an invoice, you select the payment category to note the bank account that the payment was made to.

It might also be worth having a quick chat with a trusted accountant or bookkeeper, just to confirm how everything should be recorded, but I'm keen to help as much as I can! 😄