[GNC] Accounts for Tracking Dividends

[John Ralls]

Larry,

You're welcome, but please remember to copy the list on all replies.

Regards,
John Ralls

> On Nov 24, 2020, at 9:40 AM, Larry Long <llong47 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks, John!
> 
> Until now, I've been using GnuCash to track only cash, checking, loans and credit card accounts.
> Digging into tracking stock, dividends and other transactions is another uphill learning curve for me.
> 
> 
> Larry
> 
> 
> 
> On Tuesday, November 24, 2020, 12:23:40 PM EST, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > On Nov 24, 2020, at 9:06 AM, Larry Long <llong47 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > If you do automatic online retrieval of stock/dividend transactions, are the dividend accounts in GnuCash required to be structured in a specific manner?
> > 
> > In the “GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide”, paragraph 9.4.1SetupAccounts for Stocks and Mutual Funds, thereis a Note which states:
> > “Ifyou want to track income (dividends/interest/capital gains) on aper-stock or fund basis, you will need to create anIncome:Dividends:STOCKSYMBOL, Income:Cap Gain (Long):STOCKSYMBOL,Income:Cap Gain (Short):STOCKSYMBOL and Income:Interest:STOCKSYMBOLaccount for each stock you own that pays dividends or interest.”
> > Isthis sequence of dividend account levels a hard-coded requirement forretrieving dividend transaction information automatically...oris it merely a recommendation toillustrate how you can track dividends?
> > 
> > I have someidentical stocks which are held in different accounts. For example,I hold some of the same stocks in my Traditional IRA account, my RothIRA account and also in my non-IRA brokerage account. Thus, I oftenreceive dividends from a given stock in all three accounts.
> > 
> > If I set up accountsfollowing the above example and connect to the brokerage firm toretrieve transaction information in the background, it appears thatGnuCash would record all of my IRA and non-IRA dividends into asingle account.
> > 
> > On the other hand,if I need to record dividend transactions manually, I think I wouldhave have my accounts something like this:
> > 
> >  -  Income:Dividends:Brokerage:AMZN
> >  -  Income:Dividends:Trad_IRA:AMZN
> >  -  Income:Dividends:Roth_IRA:AMZN
> > 
> > This would allow meto keep track of taxable and non-taxable dividends separately.
> > 
> > Thanks in advance for clarification on this aspect!
> 
> 
> You need only follow a particular way of recording dividends if you use the Advanced Portfolio Report and that's what the guidance in the T&CG is for. Otherwise any way that makes sense to you is fine.
> 
> If the imported transaction descriptions indicate in some way which stock account sourced the dividend then you'll be able to train the import matcher to send them to the right account. If not and you use some other way (perhaps by knowing that you have different numbers of AMZN shares in each account and so being able to distinguish them by the amount of the dividend) then you'll have to reassign them manually either in the matcher or by changing the transfer account from the register.
> 
> Regards,
> John Ralls
> 
> 
>