[GNC] Why did "Assign as payment…" remove splits and notes from my payment transaction?

[Jediator]

You should create your three-split transactions in your invoice, instead 
of doing this in the account register.  When you assign payment to the 
invoice, the existing transaction will be overwritten with an entry in 
the account payable, and the split will apply automatically in the AP.  
Hope this helps..

Cheers! --ND


On 12/27/24 10:09 PM, Jim DeLaHunt wrote:
> Hi, folks:
>
> I have used little bits of the business features of GnuCash for a long 
> time, but I don't know them well. I just tried to assign a Paypal 
> transaction as a payment, and it looks like GnuCash changed the 
> transaction in ways I don't understand.
>
> I had an invoice for a customer. The invoice was posted, so my 
> accounts receivable account had an entry for that invoice.
>
> The customer paid me using Paypal. Paypal deducted a service fee. I 
> entered a three-split transaction in GnuCash:
>
> Debit $X    Asset:Paypal account, where $X is the gross amount of the 
> invoice
> Credit    $Y  Expense:Fees account, where $Y is the service fee Paypal 
> charged
> Credit   $(X-Y) Asset:Accounts Payable, where $X-Y is the net amount 
> received
>
> I selected this transaction, brought up the context menu, and selected 
> "Assign as payment…". A dialogue appeared. It had the amount $(X-Y) 
> filled in, so I changed it to $X. It had the date of the Paypal 
> transaction.  The invoice was in the Documents list in the centre of 
> the dialogue, so I selected that. I pressed the [OK] button.
>
> Now, the transaction was changed. It had only two splits:
>
> Debit $X    Asset:Paypal account, where $X is the gross amount of the 
> invoice
> Credit   $X Asset:Accounts Payable
>
> My split with $Y for the service fee was nowhere to be found. Also, 
> the Description for the transaction, and the Notes on each split, were 
> changed to just have the customer name.
>
> Q1. Is this the expected behaviour?
>
> Q2. What does the "Assign as payment" of a payment transaction to an 
> invoice actually do?  The GnuCash manual, section 7.6. "Process 
> Invoice Payment", says what steps to take to perform an assignment, 
> but it does not explain what GnuCash does in the course of the 
> assignment.  It does not lead me to believe that it will rewrite a 
> transaction, and discard splits.
>
> Q3. What is the correct way to enter a transaction which pays an 
> invoice and incurs service fees? Should I always create the 
> transaction with "Process Payment…" from the business features if it 
> will eventually be part of an invoice payment?  Is there a way to make 
> an existing transaction an invoice payment without losing what I put 
> into the transaction?
>
> Q4. If I have an invoice marked PAID, how do I see which transactions 
> are assigned as the payments for that transaction?
>
> I am using GnuCash 5.8 on macOS Sonoma 14.7.2. The transaction and 
> invoice in question were entered years ago, but I never bothered to 
> assign the payment to the invoice until now.
>
> Colour me confused.
>
>       —Jim DeLaHunt
>
>
>
>
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