Bookkeeping categories
What category is Costco in bookkeeping?
It depends on what you bought, and Even Margin works it out charge by charge. It uses your bank's category for each Costco charge, and when the bank gives none, it suggests Office Supplies & Equipment and puts the charge on your review list to confirm in one click.
What Costco charges are
A Costco charge can be supplies for the office, food for a team lunch, fuel, or a membership fee. Each needs a different category.
How Even Margin categorizes Costco
Depends on the charge. Suggested when the bank gives none: Office Supplies & Equipment.
- Even Margin recognizes Costco on your bank transaction, using the merchant list its team curates.
- It uses your bank's category for each Costco charge, which can tell fuel from groceries, and sends a charge to your review list only when it is less sure.
- When the bank gives no category, it suggests Office Supplies & Equipment at low confidence and puts the charge on your review list, so you confirm in one click rather than starting from nothing.
When a different category fits
When one Costco order covers more than one category, split it and give each part its own.
- Food for clients or a team meeting is Meals.
- Fuel for a business vehicle is Vehicle & Fuel.
- Stock or ingredients you sell are Inventory & Materials.
- A personal shop paid from a business account is Owner Draw / Personal.
What if one Costco trip was for home and business?
Split the transaction: give the business part its own category and the rest Owner Draw / Personal, so your profit counts only what the business bought.
What about the Costco membership fee?
Give it whichever category you use for memberships and subscriptions, and write a rule so the yearly charge lands there every time.
About this page
Reviewed 2026-10-08 by the Even Margin team.
These are categories for your books; for how a cost is treated on your tax return, ask your accountant. Merchant names are trademarks of their owners, and Even Margin is not affiliated with them.