Split a Transaction

One trip to the store often covers more than one kind of spending — $80 of groceries and a $40 birthday gift on the same $120 receipt. Splitting the transaction tells Tally what each part was for, so the Categories report counts $80 under Groceries and $40 under Donations & Giving instead of putting all $120 in one place.

Splitting is part of Tally Plus.

Splitting a transaction

1. On Activity, open the transaction’s ⋮ menu and choose Split… (or open Edit and choose Split across categories… under the Category field).
2. For each part, enter an amount and pick a category. Add a note if it helps — “Mom’s birthday”, for example. Use Add a part for more than two.
3. Watch the line under the parts: it shows how much is left to assign (or how much you’re over). Assign the rest puts whatever’s left into the last empty part.
4. When it reads Fully assigned, choose Save split.

The parts have to add up to the transaction exactly — Tally won’t save a split that leaves money unassigned or assigns too much.

The transaction now shows a Split · 2 categories label on Activity.

What splitting changes (and what it doesn’t)

• Your balance and forecast don’t change. The transaction still counts once, for its full amount. Splitting only says what the money was for.
• The Categories report counts each part separately, each under its own category. Tap a part there to move just that part to a different category.
• Only money going out can be split, and only a transaction that isn’t linked to a bill, income, a recurring transaction, or a reserve as a whole. To link a split transaction, remove the split first — or apply just one part to a reserve, below.

Spending part of a transaction from a reserve

One part can come out of a reserve while the rest stays ordinary spending — the $40 gift from your Christmas reserve, the $80 of groceries from your everyday budget. In the split editor, pick the reserve under that part’s Reserve. If the part has no category yet, it takes the reserve’s.

• Only that part counts toward the reserve’s spent and remaining. The rest of the transaction counts on its own, so your balance still counts the transaction exactly once.
• A released reserve can’t take new parts, but a part that already spends from it stays.
• A reserve can’t be deleted while a part spends from it — take the part off the reserve first.
• Applying a part to a reserve needs Tally Plus and a bank-synced account, like applying a whole transaction. Taking it back off works on any plan.

Changing or removing a split

Open Edit split… from the transaction’s menu (or Edit split in its Edit window) to change the parts. Remove split turns it back into a single transaction in the category it had before you split it. Removing a split works on any plan.

Bank-synced transactions

Splitting a transaction from your bank also clears it from your review list. If your bank later reports a different amount for it — a tip added after the fact, say — Tally clears the split and puts the transaction back in your review list, so you can split the new amount yourself rather than have Tally guess how to divide it.