Virtual accounts

[Adam Funk]

On 2008-07-13, Mike or Penny Novack wrote:

>>I don't know, but I can tell you how I would do it (unless someone now
>>explains to me why this is stupid): I'd use two separate expense
>>accounts, e.g., Expenses:Interest:Deductible and
>>Expenses:Interest:Non-Deductible.

> Take a good look at what Adam wrote because it is a perfect example why 
> we cannot expect "canned solutions" -- why an application like GnuCash 
> will be most generally useful if it allows us to structure the chart of 
> accounts the way we want to even if that means work setting up that 
> structure. The important point is that the right structure depends upon 
> the purpose for which the books are kept, what sort of information needs 
> to be easily obtainable. Since your purpose might be different than mine 
> and both different from Adam's there is no way some "one size fits all" 
> solutions would work.

That's why I usually put disclaimers like "how I would do it" on my
answers.  ;-)

> To give an example, were I keeping OUR personal books under GnuCash I 
> would be reversing that. My breakdown would be 
> Expenses:Deductible:Interest and Expenses:Non-Deductible:Interest   The 
> reason for that is "obtaining information useful for filing income 
> taxes" more important than "knowing how much paid for interest in toto". 
> So I'd want all deductible expense accounts under one parent and all 
> non-deductible expenses under another. It's not that's a "more right" 
> solution, just more suited to somebody who files "itemized".

As you say, it's a matter of personal taste and priorities!

I'd do it the way I said because that would make *most* of my reports
come out the way I want.  I'd use the "Tax-related" account flag and a
tax report for the occasional, um, tax report.