Question about Lots and Capital Gains

Rich Bloch richbl at gmail.com
Mon Mar 31 15:08:45 EDT 2008


Thanks for the quick response, Derek.

Is there a time frame for when lots will be fully implemented? I took a look
at the roadmap and wishlist on the wiki, but didn't see any reference made
to lots getting implemented (though I recall reading something about lots
being implemented at some level as far back as 2004). Should I be looking
elsewhere?

It's a little confusing that the View Lots dialog is implemented, but no
underlying code is functional. Unless I'm not seeing the rationale, I think
it might make more sense to provide feature interfaces (UI) only after the
features have been implemented.

To all, for folks that need to handle stock sales with different purchase
costs (basis), is there a recommended procedure for how best to capture this
kind of event in gnucash?

Thanks again.


On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Derek Atkins <warlord at mit.edu> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Quoting Rich Bloch <richbl at gmail.com>:
>
> > 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.
>
> Unfortunately Lots are not fully implemented at this time.
>
> > 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?
>
> It doesn't... Nor does it compute capital gains for you.
>
> > --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.
>
> None.  See above.  But the partial implementation is FIFO, IIRC.
>
> > --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.
>
> There may be a lots.txt somewhere.  But the only definitive source
> would be, um, the source.
>
> > Thanks much.
> >
> > --
> > rich
>
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> -derek
>
> --
>       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
>       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
>       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
>       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available
>
>


-- 
rich


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