[GNC] Any Simpler Way to Schedule Irregular Estimated Tax Payments?

[Stellios & Sally]

Hey Sherlock, that's a most interesting and helpful reference to an amazingly useful feature.
Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+sz.sdz.077=gmail.com at gnucash.org> On Behalf Of Sherlock
Sent: 3 June 2026 02:50
To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Any Simpler Way to Schedule Irregular Estimated Tax Payments?

Hi Tom,

https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Scheduled_Transactions

Regards,

Sherlock

On 6/2/26 6:03 PM, Tom Route36 wrote:
> Hi Mark,
> 
> You're my hero.  I guess I'm still a newbie here.  The idea of using a 
> variable in the template transaction never occurred to me.  I wasn't 
> even aware of the possibility of doing that.  In looking thru the 
> GnuCash manual for tips about scheduling , I never saw any mention 
> there about variables at all.  (But feel free to point me to the 
> documentation if I missed it.)
> 
> Anyway, by plugging in a variable name in my template transactions, 
> that pretty much takes care of my laziness.  Essentially, I just 
> create those
> 8 scheduled transactions once -- with a variable name for each amount. 
> And then I never have to edit those schedules again.  I just plug in 
> the correct amount whenever each transaction comes due and gets created.
> Easy!  That's what I was looking for.
> 
> Thanks for your help,
> Tom
> 
> 
> On 06/02/2026 12:50 PM, Mark Bourne wrote:
>> I don't know if it would ease the burden of editing the transactions, 
>> but you can use variables in the template transactions and the "Since 
>> Last Run" dialog will then prompt for the value(s) each time the 
>> transaction is due.  Where you would normally fill in debit/credit 
>> amounts in the template transaction, instead enter a word such as 
>> "estimate".  Use the same word in both splits, and it'll prompt for 
>> the value for "estimate" each time the transaction is due and use the 
>> value you enter for the transaction.
>>
>> That would avoid needing to go into each template transaction to edit 
>> the amounts, at the expense of needing to manually enter the amount 
>> each time.
>>
>> Another workaround would be to schedule the transaction for every 
>> month, and just select to skip entering the transaction in the "Since 
>> Last Run" dialog when it comes up in the months you don't need it.
>>
>> Neither of those options is perfect, more a matter of working out 
>> what's least inconvenient ;)
>>
>> Mark.
>>
>>
>> Tom Route36 wrote:
>>> Hi Liz,
>>>
>>> I know what you're saying as far as GnuCash handling things "under 
>>> the hood" once the transactions are setup.  The reason it's a bit 
>>> annoying (at least once a year) is that I usually need to adjust the 
>>> estimated payments each year.  So it would be easier to only have to 
>>> adjust 2 scheduled transactions, rather than having to edit and 
>>> update 8 of them individually every year.
>>>
>>> As I said, it's really minor.  But if anyone had come up with an 
>>> easy way to handle these kinds of irregular schedules it would be 
>>> useful to know about it.  Editing 2 each year is better than editing 8.
>>> (Hey, I'll admit I'm lazy.)
>>>
>>> Tom
>>>
>>>
>>> On 06/01/2026 10:00 PM, Liz wrote:
>>>> On Mon, 1 Jun 2026 20:51:01 -0600
>>>> Tom Route36<tom.route36 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I know this isn't a big issue.  But I'm just wondering if it's 
>>>>> possible to combine those 8 scheduled transactions into just 2.  
>>>>> Any advice would be appreciated.
>>>> I don't know of any way to do that.
>>>> I would also note that once they are all scheduled it doesn't 
>>>> really matter how they appear in the editor for scheduled 
>>>> transactions, as Gnucash handles the rest under the hood.
>>>>
>>>> I have had 12 monthly tax payments listed, 4 occurring regularly at 
>>>> quarterly intervals with one set of splits, and the other 8 on the 
>>>> fill in months with a second set of splits.
>>>>
>>>> I made separate entries for the second group as the only way I 
>>>> found to manage this in Gnucash.
>>>> It was then of no concern until I needed to cancel eight separate 
>>>> entries.
>>>>
>>>> Liz
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