[GNC] About bookkeeping and claiming non-currency expenses.

[Adrien Monteleone]

I could be misunderstanding, but I think the question is about tracking deductions for expenses that are already accounted for. I don’t see it as cash vs. non-cash. (such as in-kind)

For example, you have personal auto expenses that may or may not be broken out into R&M, Fuel, etc. Those are paid cash/check/charge and are accounted for in full.

Some tax authorities allow you a deduction from taxable income for using your auto for certain purposes, like a pass-thru business.

One option would be something like:

Dr. Liabilities:Tax Due
  Cr. Expenses:Taxes

with a memo about what the deduction is for.

This might be an issue depending on how the main Expenses:Taxes transaction is entered and calculated. It would have to be entered as if no deduction were taken for things to balance properly, or else reverse the various credits and just enter the net transaction at filing.

Regards,
Adrien

> On Apr 17, 2020 w16d108, at 10:51 AM, Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 17 Apr 2020, Christopher Lam wrote:
> 
>> This question is for the resident accountants and bookkeeping.
> 
> Christopher,
> 
> Check with your accountant for their preferences and local requirements.
> 
>> But there are numerous tax deductions allowed, that don't necessarily
>> belong in the book. For example:
>> - claiming mileage in dollar per km for business travel
>> - claiming home running costs (e.g. claiming $0.80/hour working from home
>> allowance)
>> - further examples welcome. etc.
> 
> What I do for non-cash donations (to Goodwill, for example) is enter the
> value in an expense account called 'Donations - non-cash'. You could have
> expense accounts for milage and volunteer time if appropriate. (I have run
> my consultancy from home for 27 years and have separate books for personal
> and business transactions.)
> 
> When I prepare reports for my accountant I include the non-cash donations
> with the personal balance sheet and income statement and business expenses
> from personal funds in the business balance sheet and income statement.
> We've been doing this for almost 2 decades and neither the feds, the state,
> nor the county have had any complaints.
> 
> HTH,
> 
> Rich