Question about Lots and Capital Gains

Rich Bloch richbl at gmail.com
Mon Mar 31 14:14:26 EDT 2008


Hello all,

I'm running 2.2.1, and I'm in the process of learning how to manage stock
purchases/sales. However, I'm having a difficult time understanding how
"lots" work.

There's a dialog accessed by View Lots off the main account window,
which--not surprisingly--permits me to scrub and view stock lots. However,
this dialog doesn't appear to do much else (either that, or I'm just not
seeing any functional changes). So, here are my questions:

--If I want to sell a stock, how does gnucash identify the stock lot--and
it's basis--to determine capital gains?
--What accounting policy does gnucash use for determining capital gains? I
believe FIFO is most typically used, though LIFO is also legal, as is lot
selection.
--Are there specific docs available that address how gnucash handles lots
(in 2.x)? I spent some time picking through notes and conversations on
gnucash.org and the wiki, and haven't really found anything definitive.

Thanks much.

-- 
rich


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