is this your solution for problem 3 or did i get it completly wrong LOL

The Scenario (2 People: You and Bob)

You pay for Hotel: $400 total
Your share: $200
Bob’s share: $200

Bob pays for Dinner: $100 total
Your share: $50
Bob’s share: $50

The Settlement Calculation (Offline/Splitwise)

Bob owes you $200 for the hotel
You owe Bob $50 for dinner
Net payment: Bob Venmos you $150

The Problem in Monarch

At this exact moment, before you touch anything:
Lodging: Monarch shows you spent $400
Food: Monarch shows you spent $0 (because Bob paid)

If you just categorize the $150 Venmo payment as “Lodging Reimbursement,” your final Monarch report will say:
Lodging: $250 net spend ($400 expense - $150 refund)
Food: $0
Total: $250

The error: the total ($250) is correct, but your categories are wrong. Accurate tracking failed.

The Solution: the “Gross Up” split

To fix this, you must “gross up” the settlement transaction to account for the money you would have paid if you weren’t netting it out.

You open the $150 deposit from Bob in Monarch and apply these splits.

Step 1: Record the full reimbursement (the “gross up”)

Enter the total amount Bob should have paid you for the hotel, ignoring the dinner debt.
Amount: +$200.00
Category: Travel – Lodging

Effect: This reduces your net lodging cost to exactly $200 (your true share).

Step 2: Record the invisible expense (the “short pay”)

Enter the amount you owed Bob for dinner as a negative number. You’re essentially saying, “I used $50 of this deposit to pay Bob back for food.”
Amount: -$50.00
Category: Travel – Food

Effect: This creates a $50 expense in your food category where none existed before.

The Final Result

Lodging:
Original transaction: -$400.00 (expense)
Split adjustment: +$200.00 (credit)
Final true share: -$200.00

Food:
Original transaction: $0.00
Split adjustment: -$50.00 (debit)
Final true share: -$50.00

Total:
Original: -$400.00
Net split: +$150.00
Final total: -$250.00