[GNC] Paying an exmpense that will be pertially re-imbursed.

[Adrien Monteleone]

> On Sep 21, 2018, at 9:33 AM, jjlwork <jasolandry at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> When I get my power bill I pay the whole thing from my checking account. I
> send my girlfriend how much I paid and she transfers me her share and it
> gets deposited back in my checking account. So the first transaction is for
> example $100 from checking to Electricity expense. How should I record the
> e-transfer from my GF to my checking account? My thoughts right now are:
> 
> 1. $100 from Checking to Electric expense
> 2. $50 from Electric Expense to Asset:GF Money Owed
> 3. When she pays me her share transfer from Asset:Money owed to Asset:Bank
> Account.
> 
> This way I track that I paid the full expense initially, but I got back half
> and ultimately I paid half in the end.
> 
> Does that make sense or is that the wrong way to go about it?
> 
> Also can I apply the same logic to a joint account we use:
> 
> 1. Create Asset: GF Joint Account Contributions

So you’re creating 2 assets here? (one for the account, the other to track her contributions)

> 2. When she puts money in Joint Account I credit the joint account and debit
> the GF Joint Account Contributions

This is backwards. If you credit the joint account, then it will have a credit balance. How are you going to pay money from an account that has a negative balance? Don’t be confused by terminology your bank might use. They speak of your account from *their* perspective, which is that your account with them is a liability, not an asset. When you deposit money in an account, they debit cash and credit your account. That increases the amount they owe you. But from your perspective, the account is an asset. So you want to always debit the account when funds are put into it.

> 3. The joint account will have the correct balance, but with respect to my
> total assets the GF Joint Account Contributions will be debit for that
> amount so will offset my total assets.

As noted, this is backwards. The account will have a credit (negative) balance, it won’t be correct.

But since you’re trying to offset, instead rather, create the ‘contributions’ account as a contra-asset as a sub-account of the actual joint checking account. When either of you deposit into the account, you *debit* (increase) the account balance, and credit, in her case the ‘contributions’ account and in your case, an income account. By making the ‘contributions’ account a sub of the actual account, when you view the Chart of Accounts tab, the balance of the contributions sub account will be rolled into the actual account balance, showing you just that portion of the account that is *your* asset.

> 4. When a expense comes out of the joint account record the expense being
> paid from that account as normal.

> 5. Credit the GF Joint Account Contributions with her share of the expense
> and debit the expense. So for my books it shows the amount I actually paid
> to the expense.

Again, backwards. You would *debit* the ‘contributions’ account (to move it’s balance toward zero) and *credit* the expense account. (reducing it by her share) Your transaction here will end up increasing the expense. (a debit increases expenses)

Regards,
Adrien