[GNC] Not exactly a new question. Am I introductory screwing up by entering 0 balances in accounts.

[Stan Brown]

On 2022-12-17 02:35, Jeff wrote:
[Editorializing snipped. I understand your frustration, but venting it
here just makes your question obscure.]

> ... I'm entering 0
> dollars in accounts that I know that there is money flowing though them,
> I just do not know what the other account would be ...

> I have a debits that must go to multiple accounts.  Problem is, I will
> not know which accounts for several weeks ( which may be after 2022 tax
> time ...  Then you have to adjust
> your books accordingly, which violates our double entry journal system (
> it may create accounts or tree accounts that are unneeded but required
> by the IRS).

Adjustments do not violate double-entry bookkeeping. You debit the
account where the amount should have been posted and credit the same
amount in the account where it was actually posted. (Or vice versa,
depending on the transaction details.)

And the IRS does not require you to keep any particular accounts or
structure. Any records that are sufficient to let you file a correct tax
return are sufficient for the IRS. (Of course you will want to save
receipts, especially for unusual items.)

Your main questions don't seem like GnuCash questions, rather accounting
and tax questions. If you were keeping your books in paper ledgers, you
would have exactly the same issue. So the short answer is "do in GnuCash
whatever you would do in a paper ledger."

Given that it's now almost four months to tax time (or ten months with
the six-month extension you can get for the asking), it's hard for me to
understand how you will not known what goes where by tax time. If that's
truly the case, your situation is almost certainly so complicated that
free help would be insufficient and you'd need to consult a tax
professional.

> Should I wait until they decide or just use in-balance usd until they
> decide.  Hopefully before tax time.

Do you mean "Imbalance"? I wouldn't do that. Nonzero Imbalance is a red
flag that I made an error somewhere in entering transactions. By opening
the register for the Imbalance account and examining the transactions
involved, I can easily find and correct my error. If you get in the
habit of accepting a nonzero Imbalance account on purpose, you lose that
and sooner or later will overlook a non-deliberate error.

Instead, if you really don't know what accounts your debits should go
to, I suggest an asset or expense account called "Suspense" or similar
and putting the unknowns in there. Then, when you find out, you can made
adjusting entries (see my first paragraph).

Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com