What kind of account?

[Maf. King]

On Wednesday 14 May 2008, Bob Williams wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm fairly new to keeping my home accounts & gnucash. I have a particular
> kind of (British) savings account called an ISA, which I can invest in
> from time to time. The gains are tax-free, but there is a limit on how
> much one can invest in any particular year. The money buys units in a
> fund of stocks and shares (equities), so it's value can go up or down,
> depending on the ability of the fund managers.
>
> I'm not sure what top-level parent account I should be using, and how I
> manage changes in value.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Bob

Hi Bob,

I have my ISAs grouped under Assets, something like:

Assets:ISAs:ProviderName

I have an Income Account (Income:ISA Gains) for the Interest on the cash ISA & 
(hopefully) gains made on the stocks ISA types.  If the stocks ISA has gone 
down in value, I just make a -ve payment to the income account.

I've also left the "Tax Related" box unchecked for the income account, 
although, TBH, I've never had a problem remembering not to include it on my 
tax return!

I also haven't looked yet at the new rules for this year yet to see if I need 
to make any changes to the GC tree structure.

HTH, IANAA etc.!
Maf.