Stock Basis and Capital Gains from sale

Jon Lapham lapham at extracta.com.br
Tue Jul 15 13:40:37 CDT 2003


Steve Wallace wrote:
> I am a new user of GnuCash 1.8.4.  I am located in the USA.  Looking for
> a Quicken replacement.  

Welcome aboard Steve.

> Don't expect a lot of fancy features but need
> basic investing capabilities.  I have quickly read through the documents
> I have been able to find.  Sections on investing are mostly just
> headings, is this because investing features are not yet implemented or
> just missing documentation?  I have looked at the Help Manual, the
> Concepts & Tutorial Guide did I miss something?

This part of the documentation is being written as we speak.  You can 
see the top secret under development version of the investment and 
capital gains documentation here:

http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/chapter7.html

http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/chapter8.html

Mind you, this is still under heavy construction.  As you are a new 
person to GnuCash, someone like you could help a great deal by giving 
advise on how to make the docs better.  Maybe as you learn, you could 
help me update the docs along the way?  I'll do all the heavy lifting, 
you just have to tell me what to do.

One other resource for you would be the GnuCash v1.6 documentation.  It 
seems that some of the things there didn't make it to the v1.8 
documentation.  See here:
http://www.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-docs-1.6/

Of course, since it was written for v1.6, it may not be totally 
applicable.  :)

Of special interet to you is probably these sections:
http://www.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-docs-1.6/xacc-depreciation.html
http://www.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-docs-1.6/xacc-commodity.html
http://www.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-docs-1.6/xacc-portfolio-report.html
http://www.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-docs-1.6/xacc-stkptlo.html

(if you see anything that helps, let me know!)

> 
> I acquire shares of a stock or mutual fund over a period of several
> years.  Shares are purchased at many different prices using new cash or
> re-invested dividends.  Commissions or fees may be charged at the time
> of purchase and sale.  How do I setup GnuCash to find the basis of the
> assets sold and calculate the correct taxable Capital Gain?  Can I
> specify the basis calculation method to be used?  For stocks I typically
> need to use the FIFO method of determining basis, but sometimes need to
> specify the exact lots to be sold.  For Mutual Funds I typically need
> single category average cost accounting but sometimes use FIFO.
> 
> Sorry for such a basic question.  I must be missing something, but I
> don't see how find the basis or capital gains at all.
> 

-- 
-**-*-*---*-*---*-*---*-----*-*-----*---*-*---*-----*-----*-*-----*---
  Jon Lapham  <lapham at extracta.com.br>          Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
  Work: Extracta Moléculas Naturais SA     http://www.extracta.com.br/
  Web: http://www.jandr.org/
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