When SparkReceipt extracts a bank statement, every transaction is classified by the direction of the money: money out (debits) becomes an expense, money in (credits) becomes income. That simple rule is right most of the time, but refunds, transfers between your own accounts, and returned payments are exceptions — money coming in that isn't really income, or lines that shouldn't be in your books at all. This article covers how to handle each case.
Changing a transaction's type
The fix for most special cases is one action: in the statement's transactions view, select the line(s) and use Set transaction type to mark them as expense or income yourself. Do this before converting the lines into documents.
Refunds and returns
A refund arrives as money in, so extraction classifies it as income. For bookkeeping you usually want it as a negative expense instead, so it reduces your spending in that category rather than inflating your income.
The recommended way to record refunds in SparkReceipt is as negative expenses — the full how-to (including how this shows up in reports) is in Credits & Returns: How to Show Negative Expenses in SparkReceipt.
Transfers between your own accounts
A transfer from your savings to your checking account is neither income nor an expense — but on the statement it looks like money in (or out), so extraction will classify it as one. If you convert both sides of a transfer from two statements, your income and expenses will both be inflated.
Two clean ways to handle transfers:
- Don't convert them. Converting is selective — select only the real income/expense lines when you use Convert selected…, and leave transfer lines unconverted. They stay visible on the statement but never enter your books.
- Delete the lines. If you prefer a tidy transaction list, select the transfer lines and use Delete. This only removes the extracted line, not anything from your bank.
Returned and failed payments (NSF)
A bounced payment usually appears as a pair of lines: the original charge going out and the returned amount coming back in. The returned amount is not income — it cancels the charge. Handle it like a transfer: either leave both lines unconverted, or convert the original charge and record the returned amount as a negative expense in the same category so they cancel out. Any NSF fee the bank charged is a real expense and can be converted normally.
Credit card payments on a bank statement
If you upload both a bank statement and the credit card statement it pays off, the card payment appears on both: as money out on the bank statement and money in on the card statement. The individual purchases are already on the credit card statement — converting the card payment as well would count everything twice. Leave the payment lines unconverted (or delete them) and convert the purchase lines from the card statement instead.
After fixing the types: convert
Once the types are correct and the lines you don't want are deleted or deselected, convert the rest into documents with Convert selected… as usual — see Bank statement extraction: the complete guide for the conversion options.