Can ofx files express split transactions?

Question

QIF (quicken interchange format) files support the notion of a split transaction where a given account transaction can be broken down into sub line-items whose individual amounts roll up to the overall transaction total. They may also have their own individual memos and categories.

The file format denotes this with the S, E and $ tags

Introduction to the QIF file source

If a transaction has "splits", meaning that it is a single transaction with "this" account but is "split" into multiple source/destination accounts, the splits are described with S fields for the category/account/class of each split, an $ field for the amount of the split, and an E field for a per-split memo. The total of all the $ fields in a transaction record should equal the T field.

Also

gnucash/import-export/qif-imp/file-format.txt

Note that S,E and $ lines are repeated as needed for splits.

Question: are ofx files capable of expressing split transactions as well?

Answer 1

I actually reached out to the standards board at [email protected] with the following question:

Does the OFX schema support the notion of split transactions?

In other words a financial transaction such as with a credit card whose line items that were actually purchased get rolled up into the overall transaction total.

For instance something like the following example

Walmart
2/20/2020
$2 carrots
$5 milk
$10 gloves
------------
$17 total
Visa *1234

Is there any part of the schema which can express the sub portions that make up an overall transaction?

In case it helps here's the topic for gnucash: https://lists.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide/txns-registers-txntypes.html

The response was the following...

Hello, Thanks for your inquiry.

No, OFX doesn’t have a specific means to categorize transactions. There are optional tags in each transaction such as <SIC>, <REFNUM>, <NAME>, <MEMO> and perhaps others that might be used to convey additional information, but that would require coordination between the product downloading and categorizing each transaction and the financial institution creating the download file.

Products that import/download OFX statement downloads currently perform categorization. For example, see https://www.quicken.com/complete-guide-getting-started-quicken-2018-windows#categorize.

There is also an image download available so a user could download a .pdf showing a CC receipt, but that’s all for now; the user would have to use that image to help the product categorization.

Answer 2

Not sure this is supported with the latest version of OFX (2.2 released in 2017) for bank / credit card transactions. However, splits are supported in OFX for investment / brokerage transactions. Look here for a link to the specification: https://www.ofx.net/