[GNC] Am I in business?
arthur brogard
abrogard at yahoo.com
Tue May 17 17:20:14 EDT 2022
Just want to thank all those who responded to my query. Thanks for the substack suggestion. Thanks for the cautions about advice. I'm aware of that aspect, don't worry.
With respect to that: laws against giving financial advice and the danger of accepting such from the unqualified, I think we need a sort of boilerplate text we could append to replies and perhaps even queries which satisfactorily deals with both aspects.
It does get tedious constantly running into it whenever you raise a question.
My queries range across a lot of subjects and finance is only one them. And in each subject the are addressed to many venues - as often as not simply found by googling.
Its obvious that great volumes of financial information is displayed freely on thousands, maybe millions, of webpages by such as solicitors, accountants, bookkeepers, software vendors and I don't know what-all else. Together with much, much more from 'authorised' sources like the ATO, Lands Dept, Rev SA and on and on.All of them issuing disclaimers and caveats without much problem at all.
If they can do it we can all do it. There's far too much panicky nervousness and caution I think. There's real dangers and there's real ways of obviating them. All reminiscent of the covid madness.
That's that.
I've got this continuing problem with my inability to properly understand how to use this list.
I get an email from a member addressed to me that's fine. I can respond to it and choose 'reply to all' as suggested or requested in the template footnote
But mainly I just get mailing list updates with a number of subjects listed at the top. I look at that and see if my query is in there. If it is I go read it and then perhaps, like now, I'd like to respond to that particular person.
But I don't know how to do that.
Except perhaps by noting the email address, noting out subject line, noting the text, writing a new reply email and inputting all that and making the reply go to 'reply all' or something.
Its surely easier than that. What should I be doing?
On Sunday, 15 May 2022, 01:30:16 am ACST, <gnucash-user-request at gnucash.org> wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Am I in business? (Liz Dodd)
2. Re: Am I in business? (Nathan Ellery)
3. invoice function for android app (goedible)
4. Re: Import Map Editor - accidentally deleted account (Bogdan)
5. Re: invoice function for android app (Jim DeLaHunt)
6. Re: Am I in business? (Bret Busby)
7. Re: a place to ask personal finance questions [was: Re: Am I
in business?] (list+gnucash at jdlh.com)
8. Re: question (Greg Feneis)
9. Re: Am I in business? (davidcousens49 at gmail.com)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 13:20:51 +1000
From: Liz Dodd <edodd at billiau.net>
To: "gnucash-user at gnucash.org" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] Am I in business?
Message-ID: <20220514132051.73f48d2e at zenbook2.billiau.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
On Sat, 14 May 2022 02:31:52 +0000 (UTC)
arthur brogard via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> I and my ex jointly own four properties two of which are rented out.
Thinking differently here, I see a red flag because there is an
unexplained relationship between the owners of the properties. I'd
suggest that these are kept in separate "books" and quite separate from
any of your personal accounts.
As already mentioned, excellent records are required to be sure that
all allowable deductions are received.
Liz
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 11:52:19 +0800
From: Nathan Ellery <ntellery at gmail.com>
To: GnuCash users group <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] Am I in business?
Message-ID:
<CAAaiKKWmN6ScXqdOggVjDrrRhPmt6_iKL+Azpma1KwAR96_66w at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Arthur, I'm in Perth WA, self employed in own business and was using
Quickbooks 2002 to keep my records but much was in flux.
I no longer have the ability to reinstall my QB and it's on an old XP
32bit machine so I thought it was time to upgrade, so to what?
I suspect I've waited too long for QB because it might not be able to read
my old files but I wanted complete control over my records rather than the
current online in the cloud versions. I found Gnucash and my SIL is a
bookkeeper anyway so engaged her to create me new set of custom books in
Gnucash. She was already using it in Linux to do their own books. It seems
to be working out ok. I am still running parallel QB until I am ready to
jump over. I hope to be able to get more comprehensive reports on
everything I do.
My properties are half with a manager and half self managed which makes it
harder. The manager gives me great detailed reports that I just use each
year to compile but being with a property guru team I am reasonably
educated on what can be claimed and what records to keep. As someone
pointed out already, it's not just claimable allowances but also
calculations for any renovations or improvements, calcs for CGT if you sell
etc, Poor records and you could be paying thousands extra in tax.
Yes you should have separate accounts too.
On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 11:21 AM Liz Dodd <edodd at billiau.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 14 May 2022 02:31:52 +0000 (UTC)
> arthur brogard via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>
> > I and my ex jointly own four properties two of which are rented out.
>
> Thinking differently here, I see a red flag because there is an
> unexplained relationship between the owners of the properties. I'd
> suggest that these are kept in separate "books" and quite separate from
> any of your personal accounts.
> As already mentioned, excellent records are required to be sure that
> all allowable deductions are received.
>
> Liz
> _______________________________________________
> 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.
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 22:33:25 -0700
From: goedible <goedible at gmail.com>
To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org
Subject: [GNC] invoice function for android app
Message-ID: <627f3f26.1c69fb81.f6e20.79e4 at mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Hi.? How could I support the creation of the invoicing feature that exists in the desktop version into the android version of gnu cash?? Perhaps with additional features for starting the clock and pausing for breaks in realtime.Jonathan Francoeur a.k.a. Kernel HazelnutEverything Edible Landscaping H.Q.48.381980, -123.707835Http://eeLandscaping.blogspot.com250 642 02676411 Sooke Rd., Sooke, B.C., Canada, V9Z 0A8
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 09:25:41 +0200
From: Bogdan <sinovij at gmail.com>
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Import Map Editor - accidentally deleted account
Message-ID:
<CAFcVBYzApexyb7zdvUGGhhhnFaK211GaKHpTQZ0WZA4Eeyqksg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Hello, does anybody have a suggestion how to fix the import map editor?
On Wed, May 11, 2022, 12:26 Bogdan <sinovij at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've accidentally deleted several accounts in the Import Map Editor -
> Bayesian (actually, I was trying to delete a match string but it would
> delete the entire source account with all match strings). Now, obviously,
> matching on import no longer works for these accounts.
>
Is there a way to restore it?
>
Making a new import does not record the missing account in the Import Map
> Editor (and match strings are not recorded).
>
> Thanks!
>
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 00:25:52 -0700
From: Jim DeLaHunt <list+gnucash at jdlh.com>
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] invoice function for android app
Message-ID: <c8bb211b-b3f9-1476-b49b-e8a8ce8bcec3 at jdlh.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Hello, Jonathan! Greetings from across the water in Vancouver.
On 2022-05-13 10:33 p.m., goedible wrote:
> Hi.? How could I support the creation of the invoicing feature that exists in the desktop version into the android version of gnu cash?? Perhaps with additional features for starting the clock and pausing for breaks in realtime.Jonathan Francoeur a.k.a. Kernel HazelnutEverything Edible Landscaping H.Q.48.381980, -123.707835Http://eeLandscaping.blogspot.com250 642 02676411 Sooke Rd., Sooke, B.C., Canada, V9Z 0A8
It sounds like you are asking about the Android app, "GnuCash for Android".
That app is a separate project from GnuCash, the desktop application.
This list is not the right place to reach the developers of that app.
Some of what this project knows about GnuCash and Mobile Devices is on
our wiki at <https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/GnuCash_and_Mobile_Devices>.
It looks like a project page for "GnuCash for Android" is at
<https://github.com/codinguser/gnucash-android>. I see there that "Pull
requests are always welcome!" But I also see there that their support
community was on Google+, which has been shut down. And the most recent
change to the code seems to have been 18 months ago. Maybe that project
is not very active at the moment.
Also, when you say, "additional features for starting the clock and
pausing for breaks in realtime", it sounds to me like you are asking for
task timing: 1 hours 32 minutes working on Project A, 12 minute break,
55 minutes on Project B, etc. I don't see anything on the GnuCash for
Android page which says that this functionality is part of their scope.
It is not in scope for GnuCash desktop either.
But I totally understand the value of the feature. One of the reasons I
keep paying for the commercial web app Freshbooks is because they do
task timing well and make it really easy for me. I track my time and
generate invoices from Freshbooks, then enter the invoice information in
duplicate in GnuCash. Freshbooks does have an Android app
<https://www.freshbooks.com/en-ca/accounting-app> but I don't use it,
and I don't know if it does task timing.
A search for "Time tracking" in the Android store might turn up some
candidate apps.
Does that answer your question?
Best regards,
??? ?Jim DeLaHunt, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 15:05:12 +0800
From: Bret Busby <bret at busby.net>
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Am I in business?
Message-ID: <af6b2f45-0b8f-22c6-9333-dcd43c211599 at busby.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
On 14/5/22 10:31 am, arthur brogard via gnucash-user wrote:
> Hope this is the right way to introduce a new question/thread.
>
> I and my ex jointly own four properties two of which are rented out.
> We are not registered for gst and are not in business though I have an ABN leftover from when I attempted an online business.
> Are we conducting an enterprise?? Will be be eligible to pay GST when we sell any of those properties?
> Should we be keeping certain records?
> Should the arrangement be formalised as a partnership or something?
> What should we be aware of?
> I'm putting my personal household expenses etc. into gnucash but not in any really strict or serious way.? Should I be getting that more properly organised?
> This is the only forum I know of where I can ask such questions.? If it's misuse of this forum and anyone knows a more fitting place please let me know.
> :)
> ab
>
This is a software users list, for seeking assistance in using the
particular software.
Asking what you have, is like going and sitting in the waiting area of a
medical practice or a hospital, and seeking qualified medical advice
from the people waiting to get medical advice and treatment.
If you want to get brain surgery, or, your house built and maintained,
or, your car serviced, by a layman, who might not have relevant skills
or experience, then, okay, do it that way.
As an unqualified layman, my personal opinion, of no consequence, being
not a qualified professional, is quite simple - you are renting out at
least one property - you are obtaining income by other than direct
payment for your labour (wages); therefore, you are operating a business.
Go to a qualified and accredited, practising accountant.
Whilst you conspicuously omitted the information of where you are
located, with the use of the terms GST and ABN, in combination, you
appear to be in Australia.
Therefore, you would be subject to Australian taxes and tax laws.
Which means that, ever since you started renting out your properties,
you are supposed to have been declaring all income and expenditure,
related to them, and, possibly your residence.
In Australia, I believe that the applicable term for whom you need to
see, is a CPA - a Certified Practising Accountant.
You need to consult with one, as soon as possible. Find one in your
area, and, make an appointment, and explain all of your sources of
income, and, seek CERTIFIED, QUALIFIED, advice, as soon as possible.
Fines for not having met obligations regarding tax laws, can be
expensive, and, provide no benefits (other than an expensive learning
experience) for the individual.
Lack Of Knowledge is no defence (people often quote the malapropism
"Ignorance is no defence", but, ignorance involves a deliberate act to
ignore knowledge, which is different to lacking the knowledge).
Asking here, for the advice that you have asked, is the same as getting
sex education from a group of idiots hiding somewhere, inhaling toxic
smoke, for the fun of it (mostly, purely because it is forbidden and
unhealthy, making them, more the idiots) - you might get someone who
knows what they are talking about, and, you may not.
This is a software users mailing list, not a forum for getting the
advice that should be available from a Certified Practising Accountant,
and, a Certified Practising Accountant, of Australia, familiar with
Australian tax law, is the only kind of person, from whom you should be
seeking the advice that you are seeking, and, the only source of advice
of which you should heed, other than the advice to go and consult with one.
--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 00:30:14 -0700
From: list+gnucash at jdlh.com
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] a place to ask personal finance questions [was: Re:
Am I in business?]
Message-ID: <53d62b77-7788-c06b-f2f3-9a34fce41ce9 at jdlh.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 2022-05-13 7:31 p.m., arthur brogard via gnucash-user wrote:
> ?This is the only forum I know of where I can ask such questions.? If it's misuse of this forum and anyone knows a more fitting place please let me know.?
Another forum that might be a good place to ask such questions is the
Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange
<https://money.stackexchange.com/>. They even have a tag for "[gnucash]"
questions.
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 06:18:51 -0700
From: Greg Feneis <mfeneis at gmail.com>
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] question
Message-ID:
<CAJdmZ-Vi0__aJPc+BOesNP0y48B4ZxETc2LWkfon+uLKxCS8_w at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
I thought perhaps Quicken has a dialogue/wizard feature that appears as a
paper check and works as an easily filled form that the user may repeatedly
fill as if writing a paper check (QuickBooks had this, I imagine Quicken
does too). This might be what the OP is asking to find. GnuCash doesn't
have this feature. I think the previously mentioned tutorial should get
the OP on the right track
Kind regards, Greg Feneis
(Pixel 3)
On Fri, May 13, 2022, 06:02 Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
> Michael,
>
> On Fri, May 13, 2022 8:50 am, Michael or Penny Novack wrote:
> >> First, I highly recommend you read the GnuCash documentation. The
> >> Tutorial and Guide are very useful in explaining the concepts, and the
> >> Help is useful at explaining what the buttons do.
> >>
> >> Having said that, there are two ways to enter a transaction like a
> >> Check.
> >> The first is to open the Transfer Dialog (Ctrl-T) and enter the date,
> >> amount, source (e.g. Assets:Checking) and destination (e.g.
> >> Expenses:Rent).
> >> The second is to open the account register of the checking account and
> >> from there you can create a transaction for the expense.
> >
> > OR, in the second case, you could open the account for the expense and
> > do it there. With gnucash, entering a transaction affecting just two
> > accounts you can do it form the ledger account of either. But please
> > note IF AN EXPENSE. When you write a check, this will be a credit to the
> > checking account. The debit side of the transaction will usually be an
> > account under expense BUT NOT NECESSARILY SO. For some examples:
>
> Considering the OP said "doesn't know accounting", I chose not to
> introduce this because in the majority of cases it will just confuse the
> user and they will enter the transaction incorrectly. Also, most humans
> intuitively understand transactions from an Asset or Liability, but have a
> much harder time "originating" a transaction from an Income or Expense
> account.
>
> Yes, a user CAN enter a transaction from any account, but IMNSHO a newbie
> user should be encouraged to enter them from an Asset or Liability account
> to reduce the chance of errors and confusion.
>
> Thanks,
>
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> -derek
>
> --
> Derek Atkins 617-623-3745
> derek at ihtfp.com www.ihtfp.com
> Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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.
>
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 23:59:03 +1000
From: davidcousens49 at gmail.com
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Am I in business?
Message-ID: <063fbeb5e87b985e378cd430b92af692d71f8ca7.camel at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Arthur,
While forums may be useful to gain some understanding of financial matters and
accounting for them, you always need to check carefully that any
advice/procedures provided on a website or forum (including anything said in
this forum) is actually applicable to your situation and in your jurisdiction.
You are operating a business a business and possibly are in a partnership with your ex if you both own the properties.
Setting this up is really going to require professional legal and accounting
advice to ensure proper legal protection for you and your ex and compliance with
tax legislation on both your parts. Apart from that, those of us also in
Australia, would likely be breaking the law, if we provided such advice.
David Cousens.
On Sat, 2022-05-14 at 15:05 +0800, Bret Busby wrote:
> On 14/5/22 10:31 am, arthur brogard via gnucash-user wrote:
> > Hope this is the right way to introduce a new question/thread.
> >
> > I and my ex jointly own four properties two of which are rented out.
> > We are not registered for gst and are not in business though I have an ABN
> > leftover from when I attempted an online business.
> > Are we conducting an enterprise? Will be be eligible to pay GST when we
> > sell any of those properties?
> > Should we be keeping certain records?
> > Should the arrangement be formalised as a partnership or something?
> > What should we be aware of?
> > I'm putting my personal household expenses etc. into gnucash but not in any
> > really strict or serious way. Should I be getting that more properly
> > organised?
> > This is the only forum I know of where I can ask such questions. If it's
> > misuse of this forum and anyone knows a more fitting place please let me
> > know.
> > :)
> > ab
> >
>
> This is a software users list, for seeking assistance in using the
> particular software.
>
> Asking what you have, is like going and sitting in the waiting area of a
> medical practice or a hospital, and seeking qualified medical advice
> from the people waiting to get medical advice and treatment.
>
> If you want to get brain surgery, or, your house built and maintained,
> or, your car serviced, by a layman, who might not have relevant skills
> or experience, then, okay, do it that way.
>
> As an unqualified layman, my personal opinion, of no consequence, being
> not a qualified professional, is quite simple - you are renting out at
> least one property - you are obtaining income by other than direct
> payment for your labour (wages); therefore, you are operating a business.
>
> Go to a qualified and accredited, practising accountant.
>
> Whilst you conspicuously omitted the information of where you are
> located, with the use of the terms GST and ABN, in combination, you
> appear to be in Australia.
>
> Therefore, you would be subject to Australian taxes and tax laws.
>
> Which means that, ever since you started renting out your properties,
> you are supposed to have been declaring all income and expenditure,
> related to them, and, possibly your residence.
>
> In Australia, I believe that the applicable term for whom you need to
> see, is a CPA - a Certified Practising Accountant.
>
> You need to consult with one, as soon as possible. Find one in your
> area, and, make an appointment, and explain all of your sources of
> income, and, seek CERTIFIED, QUALIFIED, advice, as soon as possible.
>
> Fines for not having met obligations regarding tax laws, can be
> expensive, and, provide no benefits (other than an expensive learning
> experience) for the individual.
>
> Lack Of Knowledge is no defence (people often quote the malapropism
> "Ignorance is no defence", but, ignorance involves a deliberate act to
> ignore knowledge, which is different to lacking the knowledge).
>
> Asking here, for the advice that you have asked, is the same as getting
> sex education from a group of idiots hiding somewhere, inhaling toxic
> smoke, for the fun of it (mostly, purely because it is forbidden and
> unhealthy, making them, more the idiots) - you might get someone who
> knows what they are talking about, and, you may not.
>
> This is a software users mailing list, not a forum for getting the
> advice that should be available from a Certified Practising Accountant,
> and, a Certified Practising Accountant, of Australia, familiar with
> Australian tax law, is the only kind of person, from whom you should be
> seeking the advice that you are seeking, and, the only source of advice
> of which you should heed, other than the advice to go and consult with one.
>
------------------------------
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