"Double Dating" transactions?

Thomas John Vitolo tjvitolo at bu.edu
Mon Aug 30 16:25:53 EDT 2004


Good sirs and madams:

Is it possible to "double date" a transaction?  For example, I received a tax refund on 5/1/04.  I'd like 
that date to appear as the date the money arrived in my Assets:Current Assets:Checking, but I'd like the 
date of 12/31/03 to be the date in Expenses:Taxes:Federal .

The reason is that when I make charts, having a 5/1/04 date throws off the charts, because I show 
paying negative taxes that month -- instead of having paid less taxes for the year prior, and positive 
taxes in May 04.  Since the refund was for the 03 year, it should come off of Expenses:Taxes:Federal for 
that year I would think.

IANAA, and this may not be kosher accounting.  Would somebody please:
(a) let me know if this is a legit accounting move, or at least reasonable for a home user such as myself
(b) comment on how to do this, if it can be done in gnucash
(c) if it cannot be done, comment on the possibility of this being implemented in the future
(d) comment on the possibility of it being split into 12 dates, so that the refund is proportional to the 
taxes each month of 03, so that the bar chart for all 12 months of 03 is the most accurate.


Thanks a bunch!
 - Tommy V

Thomas John Vitolo
Ph D Systems Engineering Candidate,
Boston University


More information about the gnucash-user mailing list