[GNC] Confused Entering A Refund To Credit Card Account

[Jack Frillman]

I do know the difference between credit and a debt.

Doesn't everyone track their sales tax as a separate expense item? Why 
would you consider sales tax the same type of an expenditure as 
groceries, gasoline or your electric bill?

When I say a split 1 and split 2 I'm referring to  each separate item in 
a split transaction

I buy a pair of socks for $5 and a hammer for $10 and sales tax of $0.24 
for a total $15.24.
There's a split transaction that comprises of three items:
Socks  $5.00  makes an enter into the clothing account <----- that's 
what I call split 1
Hammer $10.00 makes an entry into the tools account <------ that's what 
I call split 2
Sales tax $0.24 makes an entry into the state sales tax account <----- 
that's what I call split 3

Maybe that's not the correct accounting term but then again I'm not an 
accountant. I'm just trying to track where I spend my money.


On 3/30/21 9:47 PM, Michael or Penny Novack wrote:
> I'm going to break into bits as there are several things here
>
>
>> What's confusing me is that I was not forgetting to add any 
>> transactions in the split. GNUCash kept doubling the amount of the 
>> total and subtracting all my split transactions from that doubled 
>> total it invented and adding the difference to the Unbalanced-USD. I 
>> eventually figured out how to do it after much trial and error. Then 
>> when I got to this refund and tried to enter the splits it started 
>> doubling the total of the transaction again. I still don't understand 
>> why it does that.
>
> 1) It really would help if you knew what a journal entry looked like 
> when bookkeeping was done pen and ink on paper. Because that is the 
> "view" you are in, what the transaction entry would look like in the 
> journal.
>
> 2) It would help if you knew debit from credit. Here the user friendly 
> labels might not be your friend because they are account sensitive 
> (change with account type) but when you are entering a split, just 
> left/right   debit/credit   What is causing the behavior you find 
> mysterious (what you see as doubling is because you still see the line 
> you originally entered before you hit "split". THAT line is now (also) 
> appearing in the "journal view" of the transaction that hitting 
> "split" has opened for you.
>
>
>> The software I was using before handled the split transactions by 
>> adding each split to it's own account like GNUCash but the method of 
>> entry was more intuitive. You enter split 1 with it's associated 
>> account, then split 2 with it's associated account, then split 3 with 
>> it's associated account, hit enter and you have your total. With 
>> GNUCash I have to first enter the total amount* then enter split 1 
>> with it's associated account, then split 2 with it's associated 
>> account, then split 3 with it's associated account, close the split 
>> then hit enter. If I get one thing wrong it will invent an extra 
>> amount and add that to the Unbalanced-USD account. When that happens 
>> I delete the thing and start over.
>
> Practice splits. I am not QUITE sure what you mean by "split1", 
> "split2" etc. You are presumably entering ONE split transaction, 
> meaning a transaction that has more than just one debit and one 
> credit. Essentially gnucash is providing a short cut method of 
> entering transactions where only one of each. The "journal view" entry 
> of a transaction is how ALL transactions used to be entered in the 
> days before computer assisted accounting.
>
>>
>> Most of my transactions are split transactions because I even when 
>> purchase only one item there is also the sales tax which is it's own 
>> split transaction. 
>
> Fair enough, but that's not a gnucash matter. I assume there is a good 
> reason for you to be tracking sales tax expense separately from the 
> ordinary expense of whatever was purchased. But again, use of the term 
> "split". Say I write a check for $105 to buy a widget costing $100 and 
> there was $5 sales tax on this purchase. That is ONE transaction, 
> credit checking $105, debit widgets $100 and sales tax $5    Because 
> more than one debit and one credit, can't use shortcut entry method 
> but have to use "split" mode, or as I said "journal entry mode". 
> There  are three LINES to this entry (one credit line and two debit 
> lines) to this "split" transaction. The only reason you don't see two 
> lines when entering a transaction that has exactly one debit and one 
> credit is that you can use the shortcut method instead of "journal 
> view" << but you COULD ask gnucash  to show you all transactions 
> "journal view" --- go to some account. Look on the toolbar, "file" 
> ......"View"....... and click on view to see your view options. TRY 
> "journal view". Does what you see when you enter a "split" make any 
> more sense
>
> Michael D Novack
>
> * PS -- that is with a ONE SIDED split and starting with the largest 
> amount. If the transaction is split on both sides, more than one debt 
> and more than one credit the amount for no account is going to be the 
> "total" << although starting by "lying", starting with the total as 
> the amount for the account you begin with and changing it later is one 
> useful trick >>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see 
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-- 
Old Unix programmers never die, they just mv to /dev/null
- Anonymous