{"id":"concept:split-transaction","kind":"concept","label":"Split Transaction","synonyms":["split categorization","transaction split"],"definition":"A split transaction is a single bank transaction categorized across two or more accounts at once, with the amounts required to sum exactly back to the original total.","summary":"One charge, several buckets. A $310 charge that's genuinely $280 of Materials and $30 of Supplies categorizes as a single transaction with two splits, posting as one journal entry with three lines rather than several separate transactions.","explanation":["A split transaction is what happens when one real charge genuinely belongs to more than one category. A single $310 credit-card charge might be $280 of Materials and $30 of Supplies — rather than forcing an artificial choice of one account for the whole amount, categorizing lets it split across both, as long as the pieces add up exactly to the original $310.","Mechanically, a split doesn't create multiple transactions or multiple journal entries — it's still one bank transaction, categorized into one journal entry that happens to have more than the minimum two lines. The bank side stays a single line, crediting or debiting the account by the full original amount; the category side splits into as many lines as the split calls for.","The arithmetic is checked strictly: the pieces must sum to exactly the transaction's total, not approximately. A split that leaves even a cent unaccounted for is rejected the same way an unbalanced manual entry would be, rather than silently rounded or partially accepted.","What a split doesn't check is whether the split makes business sense — whether $280 and $30 are actually the right amounts for Materials and Supplies specifically, as opposed to some other combination that happens to also sum to $310. That judgment is still the categorizer's, the same as choosing a single account correctly."],"commonMistakes":["Assuming a split can be approximate — the pieces must sum exactly to the transaction's total, with no rounding tolerance.","Assuming a split creates several separate transactions — it's still one transaction, posted as one journal entry with additional lines.","Assuming an arithmetically correct split is automatically the right split — the tool checks that the numbers add up, not that the categories chosen make sense."],"category":"transactions","questions":[{"question":"Can I split one charge across three or more categories?","answer":"Yes — a split can cover as many accounts as needed, as long as every piece's amount sums exactly to the transaction's original total."},{"question":"Does a split transaction create multiple journal entries?","answer":"No — it's one journal entry with additional lines on the category side, while the bank side stays a single line for the full original amount."}],"url":"/glossary/split-transaction","relatedTo":[{"id":"concept:categorization","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Acategorization"},{"id":"concept:journal-entry","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Ajournal-entry"},{"id":"concept:bank-transaction","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Abank-transaction"},{"id":"concept:memo","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Amemo"},{"id":"concept:interest-expense","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Ainterest-expense"},{"id":"tool:categorize_transactions","relationship":"references","weight":0.7,"api":"/api/knowledge/tool%3Acategorize_transactions"}],"referencedBy":[{"id":"concept:interest-expense","label":"Interest expense","url":"/glossary/interest-expense"},{"id":"concept:categorization","label":"Categorization","url":"/glossary/categorization"}],"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"BalanceMCP — https://balancemcp.com"}