[GNC] Help With Configuring US Tax Report Options For Income Returns & Allowances

[Keith Fetterman]

Adrien,

Thank you for the suggestions on setting up the dummy expense accounts to establish an expense account that can be tagged with the "Schedule C - Returns and Allowances" TXF category. I appreciate it. I can hide both expense accounts from the Income Statement so they don’t affect the totals too.

If the Tax Reporting Options and the "Tax Schedule Report and TXF Export" report is ever re-worked, I suggest removing all of the dependencies and restrictions between account type and the TXF categories. Allow TXF categories to be assigned to any account type. This would be a more flexible design to support users' specific needs.

I have run into the limitations of TX categories with other accounts, so I have to leave the accounts unassigned, and use the income statement or custom transaction reports instead of the Tax Schedule Report when filling out federal tax returns.

Thanks for the help.
Keith



> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2025 08:51:16 -0700
> From: Alex Aycinena <alex.aycinena at gmail.com>
> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Help With Configuring US Tax Report Options For
> 	Income Returns & Allowances
> Message-ID:
> 	<CACm7B=3WAMLBeiRALTs3G-ip7gV7c=wUQtvdMztJXVaS2azTYg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
> 
>> 
>> 
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net>
>> To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org
>> Cc:
>> Bcc:
>> Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2025 16:57:32 -0500
>> Subject: Re: [GNC] Help With Configuring US Tax Report Options For Income
>> Returns & Allowances
>> Seems like a bug at first glance. I've always seen R&A as a
>> contra-income account as you have it setup. I've never seen it as an
>> expense account.
>> 
>> 
> It is not a bug and can't easily be changed due the way the TXF output
> expects things.
> 
> You could 'trick' the system by setting up two 'dummy' off-setting expense
> accounts in addition to the contra-income account. The contra-income
> account shows up in your income statement the way you want and the two
> off-setting expense accounts have the same value as the contra-income
> account but with different signs and therefore cancel each other out in the
> income statement. For the Tax Report, you don't assign a tax code to either
> the contra-income account or the 'dummy' expense account with the credit
> balance, so they don't show up on the tax report. You assign the tax code
> to the 'dummy' expense account with the debit balance so that only it shows
> up on the Tax Report.
> 
> If you don't need transaction details in the Tax Report, you can put the
> amounts in the two 'dummy' off-setting expense accounts just before running
> the report with one journal entry. If you do want the transaction details
> on the Tax Report you would enter every transaction that goes into your
> contra-income account with two additional splits to the two 'dummy'
> off-setting expense accounts (debit contra-income account, credit one dummy
> account and debit the other dummy account).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> If possible, it should at least not be restricted.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Adrien
>> 
>> On 10/23/25 12:59 PM, Keith Fetterman wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I am attempting to configure the tax report options for an "Income >
>> Returns & Allowances" account, which is a sub account of the ?Income"
>> account. I have the "Returns & Allowances? account configured as an Income
>> type account so the account appears in the income section of an income
>> statement.
>>> 
>>> I am unable to select the "Schedule C - Returns and Allowances? TXF
>> category in the Tax Reporting Options for the "Returns & Allowances"
>> account because the "Schedule C - Returns and Allowances? TXF category is
>> only available for Expense type accounts and not Income type accounts.
>>> 
>>> If I change the "Returns & Allowances? account to an Expense type
>> account, the account disappears from the income statement.
>>> 
>>> I appreciate any feedback or ideas on how to configure the "Returns &
>> Allowances? account is a contra-income account, so it appears in the income
>> section of the income statement, and I can configure the "Schedule C -
>> Returns and Allowances? TXF category for income tax reporting purposes.
>> 
>> 
> Alex
>