Every label you pick decides what lands on your Schedule C. Here’s what each of the four does, and when to use it.
Money spent for your business. It counts toward your deductions and shows up in your profit and loss. If you paid with a personal card or account, it’s recorded as money you personally put into the business.
Your own spending, nothing to do with the business. You’ll only see Personal on a business account, where it’s recorded as an owner draw (money you took out of the business) so your books and tax estimate stay honest. On a personal or mixed card there’s no Personal label, because there’s nothing to draw from. Just mark it Exclude and it stays off your books either way.
One purchase that’s partly business, partly personal: your phone bill, or one Costco run with printer paper and groceries. Set the business percentage and only that share counts toward your deductions.
Money that moved but wasn’t really spent. Credit-card payments (each charge already counted when it happened, so counting the payment again would double it), transfers between your own accounts, returned or retried payments, loan deposits. Excluded transactions never touch your books at all.
Personal isn’t Exclude. On a business account, Personal is tracked as an owner draw, so it affects your stake in the business. Exclude keeps the transaction off your books entirely.