Capital Gains Advice

David T. sunfish62 at yahoo.com
Thu Feb 3 15:35:15 EST 2011


I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, but I wonder: is there a situation when a commodity sale would NOT need to scrub lots and generate a Gain/Loss transaction? If there are no exceptions, then perhaps the scrubbing could be incorporated directly into the sale process...

I also see in the Wiki that the scrub function uses FIFO; I believe that there are times when LIFO or other methods are used. Is this something that would need to be accommodated in any reconception of commodity sales?

Finally, http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Concept_of_Lots explains that Gnucash creates these lots; is this reflected in the data file at all, or does Gnucash calculate these on the fly?

Cheers,
David

--- On Wed, 2/2/11, Mike Roberts <Mike at roberts-engineering.com> wrote:

> From: Mike Roberts <Mike at roberts-engineering.com>
> Subject: RE: Capital Gains Advice
> To: "'Derek Atkins'" <warlord at MIT.EDU>
> Cc: "'Mike C.'" <subscribe307 at verizon.net>, "'David T.'" <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>, "'Users Gnucash'" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> Date: Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 7:06 AM
> Thanks!  That looks like it will
> be useful.  My first try was on a stock
> that had been split, so that came out a bit weird, but I
> can work with that.
> 
> I'm still not sure what "scrub" means, but the result is
> helpful.
> 
> Mike
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Derek Atkins [mailto:warlord at MIT.EDU] 
> Sent: 02/02/2011 7:25 AM
> To: Mike at roberts-engineering.com
> Cc: 'Mike C.'; 'David T.'; 'Users Gnucash'
> Subject: Re: Capital Gains Advice
> 
> Hi,
> 
> "Mike Roberts" <Mike at roberts-engineering.com>
> writes:
> 
> > Where is the View Lots?  And what is
> "scrub"?  I am still on Version
> 2.2.9.
> 
> Actions -> View Lots...
> 
> > Is that new to 2.4?
> 
> Nope.
> 
> > Mike Roberts
> 
> -derek
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: gnucash-user-bounces at gnucash.org
> > [mailto:gnucash-user-bounces at gnucash.org]
> On Behalf Of Mike C.
> > Sent: 02/01/2011 7:28 AM
> > To: David T.
> > Cc: Users Gnucash
> > Subject: Re: Capital Gains Advice
> >
> > After entering the sell transaction, I go to the View
> Lots and scrub. 
> > It then adds the gain or loss transactions based on
> FIFO for the lots
> > purchased.  You then have to change the account
> to your capital gains
> > account.  I haven't figured out how to include
> the commission in this
> > transaction automatically.
> > Mike
> >
> > On 1/31/2011 7:02 PM, David T. wrote:
> >> Anyone?
> >>
> >> --- On Thu, 1/27/11, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> From: David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
> >>> Subject: Capital Gains Advice
> >>> To: "Users Gnucash" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> >>> Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 9:10 PM
> >>> Having spent a good while just now
> >>> trying to (re) grok the concept of capital
> gains and how to
> >>> account for them in Gnucash, I am wondering
> whether anyone
> >>> has better instructions than those found in
> the Guide at
> >>> 8.1. 
> >>>
> >>> As I see it, the descriptions included in the
> guide are
> >>> overly simplistic, and don't address some
> fundamental
> >>> points:
> >>>
> >>> 1) Is there a simple and principled way to
> calculate cost
> >>> basis in Gnucash? I spent a while figuring out
> my cost per
> >>> share, and then trying to figure out how to
> get that
> >>> reflected in the register. I only had one or
> two share
> >>> transactions to consider; I shudder to imagine
> trying to
> >>> figure out cost basis on (say) a mutual fund
> account that
> >>> has reinvested dividends over the years at
> different prices
> >>> and in minute fractional shares, and then
> selling a major
> >>> chunk at a later date... The simple example
> included in the
> >>> guide glosses over this significant question!
> >>>
> >>> 2) Commissions need to be discussed in the
> guide and
> >>> included in the example, since (as I, a
> Non-Accountant
> >>> understand it) commissions affect one's cost
> basis in a
> >>> stock. I believe that I got this right, but I
> don't know for
> >>> sure...
> >>>
> >>> Clarification and edification are welcome. If
> I can get my
> >>> mind around all this, I will try to recommend
> some changes
> >>> to the docs.
> >>>
> >>> David
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>       
> >>>
> _______________________________________________
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> >>       
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> 
> -- 
>        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
> 
> 


      


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