Capital Gains Input Question

[David T.]

Thanks. My problem is not related to incorrect valuation of share liquidation, though--it's a matter of not being able to enter capital gains amounts.

David

--- On Sun, 12/12/10, jomali <jomali3945 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: jomali <jomali3945 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Capital Gains Input Question
To: "David T." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
Cc: "John Ralls" <jralls at ceridwen.us>, Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com, gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Date: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 8:25 PM

Whenever you enter a stock or mutual fund, you have to enter two of the three values of price, number of shares and dollar value of the transaction. The missing entry is calculated. Since my statement shows all three, I always enter number of shares, leave price blank, and enter dollar value, allowing GC to calculate price (nearly always slightly different from the statement price - it should be obvious why) so that the cumulative shares are correct. The one exception is a money market fund account, whose price is always $1.

jomali

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 6:34 PM, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:





--- On Sat, 12/11/10, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:



> From: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>

> Subject: Re: Capital Gains Input Question

> To: "David T." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>

> Cc: Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com, gnucash-user at gnucash.org

> Date: Saturday, December 11, 2010, 9:17 PM

>

> On Dec 11, 2010, at 4:15 PM, David T. wrote:

>

> >

> >

> > --- On Sat, 12/11/10, Fred Bone <Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com>

> wrote:

> >

> >> From: Fred Bone <Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com>

> >> Subject: Re: Capital Gains Input Question

> >> To: "David T." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>

> >> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org

> >> Date: Saturday, December 11, 2010, 3:08 PM

> >> On 11 December 2010 at 14:39, David

> >> T. said:

> >>

> >>> I have been trying to enter capital gains/loss

> in

> >> 2.3.17 on a Mac, and I

> >>> want to understand an interface gotcha.

> Specifically,

> >> it it Extremely

> >>> Confusing that when you want to enter the

> split lines

> >> for capital gains in

> >>> a Stock or Mutual Fund account, you can't

> enter the

> >> dollar figure for

> >>> capital gain directly in the transaction

> register for

> >> the stock. If you

> >>> try to do this, Gnucash requires **and will

> >> automatically assign** a

> >>> number of shares and a per share price--an

> action that

> >> is guaranteed to

> >>> throw your portfolio off.

> >>

> >> Wrong. This is explained, quite well though

> perhaps not

> >> perfectly, in the

> >

> > Ah, well, MY problem was that I looked at Chapter

> 9--you know, that one that is titled "Capital Gains"?

> >

> >> "Tutorial and Concepts Guide", under "Selling

> shares". I

> >> recommend

> >> reading it.

> >

> > This, I see now, is in Chapter 8, which is called

> Investments in the main index.

> >

> >>

> >>> However, Gnucash allows these splits to

> exist--it just

> >> requires you to

> >>> enter the split information from a different

> register.

> >> It seems to me that

> >>> either you should be allowed to enter a cash

> split

> >> line in a register--or

> >>> not. This "You can't do it here, but you might

> be able

> >> to do it from over

> >>> there" interface is very very very very

> confusing.

> >>

> >> It might be, if that were true, but it isn't.

> >

> > Um, the example in 8.7.1 clearly shows a line (the

> 1600.00 buy line below) with 0 shares and 0 price. In MY

> copy of Gnucash (2.3.17 on Mac OS X), I cannot do this in

> the SYMBOL register. Every time I attempt to do this and tab

> or enter off the split, the dollar amount is "helpfully"

> removed from the line and a new line is added to the

> transaction for Imbalance-USD.

> >

> > If, instead I simply enter 1600 (the dollar amount) in

> the buy column of this line, Gnucash "helpfully" provides

> 1600 shares priced at 1 each.

> >

> > As I stated originally, this is not good.

> >

> > I will check to see whether this is the same in

> stable; if this is new behavior in 2.3.17, then hooray! I've

> found my first bug in the development release!

> >

> > Account           

>         Shares   

> Price    Buy    Sell

> >

> Assets:Bank             

> 3525.00     

> > Assets:Stock:SYMBOL   

> -100   

> 36.00        

> 3600.00

> > Assets:Stock:SYMBOL   

> 0    0   

> 1600.00     

> > Income:Capital

> Gains                  

> 1600.00

> >

> Expenses:Commissions             

> 75.00     

> >

>

> The trick is to delete the value in the price column rather

> than to zero it, and to make sure to tab or mouse (don't use

> "Enter/Return" !) to the balancing split and also delete the

> price there.



Okay, this is just downright weird. If I change the imbalance line to use the current mutual fund account, the first time, it puts in the shares and price information. If I then clear the shares and price as you advise, it clears the amount to a new Imbalance split and zeroes the mutual fund account line. If NOW I change the imbalance to the current mutual fund account, it saves the transaction correctly. I honestly don't get this.




If I ever do figure it out, I'll get back to the list.



David



>

> No, it's not new behavior.

> No, I don't know how to fix it.

>

> Regards,

> John Ralls

>

>







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