Splitting Costs & Settlements
Evensum's five splitting modes explained with examples, and how automatic settlement payments are calculated.
Why splitting matters
Fairly dividing shared costs is often a source of unnecessary friction for couples and households. Evensum takes over the calculation for you and shows clearly, at the end, who owes whom and how much.
The five splitting modes
For each recurring item or category, you can choose how it should be split:
1. 50/50
Both people contribute exactly half. Example: an electricity bill of €120 — each person contributes €60.
2. Proportional by income
The split follows recorded net income. If Person A earns €3,000 and Person B earns €2,000, the ratio is 60:40. For a €500 expense, A contributes €300 and B contributes €200.
3. Custom percentages
You define individually who covers how much, independent of income — for example, a 70%/30% split you've agreed on for certain categories.
4. Payer only
This expense is fully covered by whoever recorded it — no split occurs. Useful for purely personal expenses that should be documented in the household but not shared. This mode is also the right choice for personal savings contributions, since it attributes the full amount to one person unambiguously. "Payer only" items therefore never enter the settlement — they are neutral by definition and don't appear in the breakdown either.
5. Fully for partner
The expense is attributed entirely to the other person, even though the person who logged it actually paid. Practical example: Person A pays for a gift for Person B's family — the cost should be fully attributed to Person B.
Live preview in the form
When you create or edit a recurring item or ledger entry, Evensum shows a live preview of the split right in the form: a bar visualises the shares, and below it each person's exact amount – so you can see who pays what before you save. The preview reacts live to the amount, the split mode, custom percentages and the payer selection.
How settlement payments are calculated
For the period under review, Evensum sums up how much each person actually paid and how much they should have contributed according to the chosen splitting mode. The difference is the settlement payment.
Worked example:
- Person A earns €3,000 net, Person B earns €2,000 net → ratio 60:40
- Rent is €1,500 and is split proportionally by income
- A's calculated share: €1,500 × 60% = €900
- B's calculated share: €1,500 × 40% = €600
If Person A pays the full €1,500 rent from the joint account, but B should only have contributed €600 while A should carry €900, the balance evens out once each person deposits their respective share into the joint account: A transfers €900, B transfers €600.
If an expense is instead paid from an individual account, Evensum calculates a concrete settlement recommendation, such as: "B transfers €600 to A", so that in the end both people have carried their fair share.
What goes into the settlement? Recurring items (normalized to the month), this month's household-book entries, and this month's fuel/charging logs — each with their payer and split (home charges billed via the household electricity bill stay out; they are already part of the advance payment). The automatic items from the energy, loan, and vehicle modules (per-meter advances, loan installments, vehicle fixed costs) count too, once you configure their split and account.
Source account instead of a payer: If an item has a source account, "who pays?" answers itself — the form hides the selector in that case. With an individual account, the account owner counts as the payer. With a joint account, the item is settlement-neutral: each person already carries their share via the monthly transfers into that account (the "Monthly transfers per account" card on the dashboard) — an additional settlement would double-count it.
Browsing between months: The dashboard always shows one specific month — use the arrows next to the month heading to page back and forth. The settlement payment, "Due this month", and the monthly transfers are then calculated for exactly that month: past months use that month's household-book and vehicle entries, future months include items that apply by then (e.g. an item with a start date).
Multiple items and time periods
In practice there isn't just one item but many — rent, utilities, groceries, insurance. Evensum nets out all items for a given month and calculates a single settlement payment per month, rather than many small transfers back and forth. This minimizes the number of transfers you actually need to make.
Splitting mode per category or item
You don't have to commit to a single mode for the entire household. It's common, for example, to split rent and utilities proportionally by income, while leisure expenses run 50/50 and personal gifts are recorded with the "Payer only" mode.
Practical tip
Set the splitting mode when you first create an item, rather than changing it later. This keeps your audit log history clean and the settlement calculation easy to follow.