how to split social security income?

[Buddha Buck]

On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 3:09 PM, Paula Hendricks <paula at ph-webnet.com> wrote:

> wow. i'm probably doing this all wrong then. i put the full amount (in
> your example $1800) in my checking as a deposit and then allocate to
> income/ ss ($1700) and med/ ins ($100)....
>
> i always start with my checking account... it seems to work... but it's
> different than what was suggested. hunh.
>

So you are getting a check/direct deposit for the full $1800?  I would
expect Income/SS to be an income account, and Med/Ins to be an expense
account, and you can't really add the two sensibly.

I analogize the situation to my own paycheck.  Each week, the Hypothetical
Me receives $1000 in gross salary.  That's my income, and gets credited to
my "Income:Salary" account.  It doesn't all go into my checking account,
however.  $120 goes to Federal tax withholding, which I debit against
Expenses:Taxes:Federal, $80 goes to FICA, which I debit against
Expenses:Taxes:FICA, $30 goes to my healthcare FSA, which I debit against
Liabilities:FSA, $60 goes to State tax withholding, which I debit against
Expenses:Taxes:State, and, finally, there's $710 Net, which I debit against
Assets:Checking.

I do the whole thing as one big split transaction (and, because I'm
salaried, I can even do it as an SX), and I only put into each account what
goes into each account.