[GNC] stock spinoff and lots

[Geoff]

Hi Michael

Assuming that this spin-off has not crystallised a capital gains event 
for you, and the reduction in the parent cost base becomes the child 
cost base, you can do this with a single nett zero-value transaction which:
(1) Closes out your original parent lots at original acquisition cost
(2) Creates new parent lots at new reduced cost
(3) Creates a new child lot at inherited cost which is the difference

Then simply scrub out your lots in the Lot Editor.


To illustrate this, I have created a simple scenario where you have two 
parent lots and the split is done on an 80% parent, 20% child basis. 
For simplicity I have assumed that the strike price for the split is 
$100, and the new post-split stock prices are $80 and $20.

There are two attachments.  The first shows how to account for this 
scenario in a spreadsheet, and the second shows how to execute it in 
GnuCash.  The original (unrealised) capital gain is preserved but now 
split over both of the stocks.

Note that the new Investment Lots report may not be available to you if 
you are running an older version of GnuCash.  This example was done on 
Windows 10 using GnuCash v5.8 Build ID: git 5.8-117-g6aeca0040e+(2024-09-26)

Hope this helps.

Regards

Geoff
=====

On 30/09/2024 7:52 am, Michael Matz wrote:
> I've been using GnuCash for my personal finances for many years. I've 
> not used the stock lot feature until recently and am working thought my 
> old data and adding stock lots and capital gains transactions.
> 
> How do I add a transaction to a lot, which changes the cost basis but 
> not the number of shares?
> 
> In the user guide, I found a section about return of capital, which says 
> to enter a transaction in the stock account with 0 shares. However, that 
> transaction is not in the "Splits free" list in the lot editor so I 
> can't add it to the lot.
> 
> https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v5/C/gnucash-guide/invest-retofcap.html
> 
> My need is slightly different, a spin-off rather than return to capital, 
> but it is essentially the same in that it changes the cost basis but not 
> the number of shares. I found this post which gets me most of the way 
> there:
> 
> https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2018-February/074963.html
> 
> Following this, I can create a lot and the correct capital gains 
> transaction for the spin-off stock. However, the same issue exists with 
> the 0 share transaction for the parent company - it can't be added to a 
> lot so the cost basis for the parent stock is wrong.
> 
> Am I missing something or is there no way to add a transaction to a lot 
> which changes the cost-basis but not the number of shares?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Michael
> 
> GnuCash 5.4, Ubuntu
> 
> 
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