[GNC] Don't get this at all

[Robert Kesterson]

How else could you do it?   If you import a transaction from your bank or credit card, the only thing it has is the total amount.   It doesn’t tell you how much of that amount was tax, and how much was the product.  If you bought three things in a single transaction (each of which might affect different expense accounts), it won’t tell you how much each item was, only the total.  Your bank or credit card company doesnt even *have* the details of the transaction to give you.  That information only exists, if at all, at the vendor where you made the purchase, and there’s no way to import that.  

There’s also no way to automatically calculate it in software, because again, there can be multiple different items involved in a transaction, and there can be different tax rates on the different items. 

So yes, if you want that level of detail, you’re going to have to type it in manually.  This is going to be true in any accounting software, and even in your spreadsheet. 

> On Feb 1, 2022, at 1:47 AM, Don Robertson <don at robertson.net.nz> wrote:
> 
> Well, I guess it isn't for me. I think computers should save people time. If I need to open my bank page in my browser and copy the transactions manually into Gnucash  and make a bill, post it, and pay it  for every packet of paperclips .... doesn't work for me.
> 
> Or I have to manually split each transaction and work out how much sales tax is involved? I wonder if I still have a calculator in a drawer somewhere. Or an adding machine? Can you still get the little rolls of paper for them? Where I come from, if we go to the store and pay $100, we'd have to multiply by 3 and then divide by 23, to get tax of 13.04 on a net price of 86.96. The receipt would be emailed and saved into a folder.
> 
> Sort of thing that would be easy to program, but I have to type that in to get the GST? and I suppose 100 - 100*3/23 to get the net price. Simple.
> 
> Last time I had to do accounts, I used to think how much easier it would be to be able to just down load the transactions instead of having to manually enter everything and calculate the GST. Seems some things haven't changed.
> 
> Seriously, is this how you are still doing things? Retyping data from one system to another?
> 
>> On 1/02/22 16:15, Derek Atkins wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>>> On Mon, January 31, 2022 8:54 pm, Don Robertson wrote:
>>> Hi - I have been looking at Gnucash for a while and would like to use it
>>> for my very simple business. But I am just finding it so complicated and
>>> counter intuitive I am thinking I might just use a spread sheet. Yes, it
>>> is that simple.
>>> 
>>> In the past I have used Quicken and MoneyWorks, so I am not a novice
>>> when it comes to double entry book-keeping or to paying sales tax and so
>>> forth.
>>> 
>>> So here is an example. I have set up a chart of accounts, and set up our
>>> sales tax rates, and two accounts - one for sales tax received and one
>>> for sales tax paid.
>>> 
>>> On Sunday, I went to the hardware and bought a cupboard to store our
>>> business material in. I have imported the transaction from the bank, and
>>> have debited the bank account and credited the appropriate expense
>>> account.
>>> 
>>> I just do not see any way to apply sales tax to the transaction. I have
>>> looked at the documentation, and it does not seem to me to say anything
>>> about this.
>>> 
>>> So okay. I add a bill, add a vendor, post the bill to accounts
>>> receivable. I don't want to do this everytime I buy a box of pencils,
>>> but fine. Now I do not see any way to say the bill has been paid by the
>>> transaction imported earlier. If I hit pay, it adds a new transaction.
>>> 
>>> Pretty much makes importing transactions a waste of time. Worse - it's
>>> completely pointless.
>>> 
>>> It seems to me that this is a pretty basic thing to do. Maybe I'm stupid
>>> or missing something but I can't see how this is supposed to be done.
>> The only time taxes are automatically computed from a Tax Table is via
>> Invoices and Bills.  For simple entries, it's easier to just enter the
>> amount by hand.
>> 
>> However, you can still record taxes when you enter a transaction. Just
>> make a split transaction.  For example, if you go to the store and buy a
>> cupboard for $100, and pay 5% tax, your total is $105.  So you would
>> credit your payment form (e.g. Liabilities:Credit Card) the full $105, and
>> then you would split that and debit Expenses:Cupboard $100 and
>> Expenses:Taxes Paid $5.
>> 
>> You can pull these numbers right off the receipt as you enter the
>> transaction into GnuCash.
>> 
>> You could also get GnuCash to compute it by typing:  100.00 * 0.05 into
>> the debit cell.
>> 
>> Hope this helps!
>> 
>> Happy GnuCashing.
>> 
>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>> -derek
>> 
> -- 
> Don Robertson
> 021 294 1452
> don at robertson.net.nz
> 
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