rewards points

[Richard Bishopp]

Thanks Tom.  Between your input and Dales I think I can make this work to
track what I want.  Again the goal is to track maintenance cost for a
vehicle. I can pay with rewards points and no cash (or credit card) or a
combination of cash and points.  So to know how much it cost per mile to
operate the vehicle I record those expenses,
I set up a rewards point (% converted to cash) non taxable income account
and also a rewards point asset account.  So I'll point the expense to the
asset account.  I can exclude the asset account when I run a report so this
will work to accurately show my assets. Same with Income reports.  Again
the main concern is expenses.
If you have another idea I'd welcome it.  I read briefly about contra
accounts and will look at that more.  By profession I am a firefighter with
past life experiences that have caused me to watch my cash flow like a hawk.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Rich...


On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 12:27 PM, Tom C Keene <t.keene at q.com> wrote:

> There are 3 ways you could record rebates depending on what you want to
> see on your Income Statement:  Set up a Rebate Income account, or; set up a
> Rebate Expense contra account, or; credit the expense account that created
> the rebate.  Do a browser search for "contra account".
>
> Don't use an Equity account because it will show up on the Balance Sheet.
>
> Tom
>
> On Oct 26, 2012, at 2:24 PM, Dale Alspach wrote:
>
> > I use  an account called "Non-Taxable Income" to handle rebates and
> rewards.
> > One could track each source separately but I don't bother. These do
> inflate
> > the income and expense totals and may make cost comparisons less
> transparent.
> >
> > Dale
> >
> > Subject: rewards points
> > From: Richard Bishopp <rbishopp44 at gmail.com>
> > Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:09:37 -0400 (14:09 CDT)
> > To: Users Gnucash <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> >
> > Sorry this question is leaning towards an accounting type question in
> > addition to a how to in GnuCash. Maybe someone has first hand experience
> > they can share.
> >
> > I use a credit card which give me points that are converted to cash.  I
> can
> > use the points/cash credit for anything at the Toyota dealer.  I want to
> be
> > able to show what I paid for service on my vehicles including to track
> > maintenance expenses so I can accurately track the maintenance cost for
> > future budgeting. We're talking small amounts but I can sometimes not
> have
> > any out of pocket.
> >
> > A couple thoughts that come to mind are how to show where the money comes
> > from.  Do I add my "points" (I know the cash value and can track that) up
> > in an equity account ?  an Income account ?  or some thing else ?  And
> how
> > would this affect a report showing expense vs income for the year ( or
> > whatever period ) if I do not actually have an out of pocket expense ? I
> > would guess it may show higher expenses that actual.
> >
> > I'm sure I'm missing something else.  Please chime in.
> >
> > Does anyone do something like this now ?  How do you handle rewards
> points
> > etc ?
> >
> > Obviously I am not an accountant just a super detailed nerd.  My ex-wife
> > made me this way not my mom.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Rich...
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