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

[Jim DeLaHunt]

Thank you for the reply. It leads me to further questions.

> 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.
This certainly matches what I observe in my GnuCash book, but it 
certainly is not what I want to happen.  Can you point me to further 
documentation about what GnuCash intends to do when I assign a 
transaction as payment? Or, can you point me to which parts of the code 
I should read?

This also does not match what I took from the documentation. The GnuCash 
manual, section 7.6. "Process Invoice Payment", says:

> There is an alternative way of assigning a payment to (one or more) 
> invoices where the payment transaction already exists…. This can best 
> be done starting from the asset account register holding the imported 
> payment transaction (like your bank account). In that account, select 
> the payment, right-click ([two-finger]-click for |macOS|) and choose 
> *Assign as payment...*. The payment window will pop-up, partly filled 
> in with the information from the transaction. Fill in the missing 
> information like the proper customer and invoice to complete the payment.
>
This does not mention that the payment transaction will get rewritten, 
and splits will get discarded.

It occurs to me that one workaround is that I enter the payment 
transaction as if there were no service charges. Then I assign the 
transaction as payment for the invoice, letting GnuCash rewrite it. Then 
I modify the transaction to add the service charge and reduce the amount 
deposited in my bank account.

Also, you advise:

> You should create your three-split transactions in your invoice…
I am a bit surprised by this.  Do you mean that I should I should list 
the service charge from my payment processor as a credit in the invoice, 
where the customer will see it?  It seems to me that my customer won't 
care, and does not need to know, details about the terms and feed of my 
payment processor.

Implicit answers to my questions:

> Q1. Is this the expected behaviour?
Apparently "yes".


> 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.
Apparently the expected behaviour is for GnuCash to rewrite the payment 
transaction.

These questions are still open:

> 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?

Thank you for the help. I would be happy to have even more. And thanks, 
as always, for the people who developed all these helpful business 
features, even though I am quibbling about them now. Best regards,
       —Jim DeLaHunt


On 2024-12-28 08:38, Jediator wrote:
> 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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