[GNC] IRA/401K income detection

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 3/16/2022 6:09 PM, D. via gnucash-user wrote:
> Adrien,
>
> Overall, I think you're right, but I believe the tax features you're referring to are used to calculate taxes for a business? The issue with deferred income-- and this has been true for as long as I can remember-- is that when Joe Retiree takes money from their IRA, the IRS considers it income, and taxes it accordingly. But when Joe tries to enter the transfer from their IRA to their checking account in GnuCash,  it doesn't get treated as income, and there doesn't appear to Joe to be a straightforward way in GnuCash to make it into income that they can track for taxes. That is a decidedly different tax issue than the one you've mentioned, IMHO.
>
> David T.

There was the reverse problem when the contribution was made. The 
solution used then (if 401k treated as an asset) would cancel the 
"problem" now.

The problem is that I am willing to bet that the books were opened with 
a starting amount for the 401k, opposite side "starting equity". 
Instead, the credit side of that should have been a "deferred income" 
account << that could well be placed under equity >>

So a distribution transaction is then a transfer between the assets 
"401k" and "cash" AND a transfer between "deferred income" and "income".

Michael D Novack