Split transaction and VAT

[John Whitmore]

I'll start by saying that I'm easily confused by how finnance is delt with so
don't take it badly that I'm struggling with the GnuCash Tutorial document.

I've been practicing with GnuCash on my personal finances all year as a
prelude to running my own small company. Now I'm at the point where I'm trying
to add my first transaction to my company acconts. Now I have to use splits!

Say I've been paid 1,230 of which 230 is VAT (Value Added Tax) which at some
point has to be paid to the government. All this is coming from Company_A.

I have an Income account for Company_A So I go to that account and start a new
transaction by filling in a summary and clicking the "split transaction" as
suggested in the tutorial. So now I add one split of 1,000 into
Assets:CurrentAccount and 230 into Liabilities:VAT hit return and everything
disappears no transaction is recorded in the Income:Company_A Account. 

I keep playing around in this area but never manage to get a transaction to
stick. Then I go and look at the Current account and numerous transactions
have been added. I've deleted them all and will keep playing.

Mucho confused all the money 1230 is coming from Company_A so why can't it go
into that Income Account?

And just out of interest what totals would you expect in all three accounts?

Income:Company_A        Asset:CurrentAccount      Liability:VAT
-1230                          +1000                   -230