Let me ask you a question (that should make it obvious what one* of your
problems is --- and yes, this has been discussed before)
HOW did you record this deferred income when it was received? Or since
it might have been received before you began using gnucash, how did you
enter the accumulated deferred income when you started with gnucash?
Forget for just a moment that the term "deferred income" in it << you
might not be using an account of type "income" to track it --- types
income and expense are temporary accounts of fundamental type equity and
would be zeroed out IF you did an actual "close the books" -- you
presumably want this amount in a standing account, one that persists
through a "close the books"
Hint --- suppose I were starting to use gnucash and I had an IRA balance
of $500,000 and all of that is "deferred income" (not taxed yet, so will
be when withdrawals taken). HOW did I record that starting balance? NOT
by using the "starting balance tool". I would have an account under
equity with a name like ":deferred income" and I would enter a
transaction debit Assets:Investments"IRA and credit Equity:Deferred
Income << in other words, it IS part of my equity, just kept separate >>
Now we are taking a distribution (your transaction) You would have the
first two lines right but that would be a CREDIT to Income:Taxable:IRA
distributions and a DEBIT to Equity:Deferred Income And no, you
are NOT decreasing your total equity (because an account of type income
is a temporary account of fundamental type equity --- so no net change
to equity)
Michael D Novack
PS: IF you never kept the accumulated deferred income as a separate part
of equity don't try to go back and fix that. Just use equity itself for
the second debit.
* The other is that you don't seem to understand the "sense" of an
account of type "income". That's where your wrong sign comes from
On 1/15/2024 11:52 AM, R Losey wrote:
Last year, there was a discussion here about tracking taxable distributions
from IRAs which included a deferred income account. I had not been tracking
taxable income, and thought that this would be good, so I tried to do this
last year, but I think I did it incorrectly. I wanted to avail myself of
the knowledge and wisdom here.
I have "Deferred Income" as an "Income" account. When I take out, say,
$1000.00, I made the following split:
Assets: Investments: IRA credit $1000.00
Assets: Current Assets: Checking: debit $1000.00
Income: Taxable: IRA Distribution debit $1000.00
Income: Deferred Income credit $1000.00
I suspect that I have the last two entries reversed because the IRA
Distribution balance is negative, and all other income accounts are
positive.
I don't remember if I created the "Deferred Income" account; perhaps it
should not be under "Income"?
Many thanks!
--
There is no possibility of social justice on a dead planet except the equality
of the grave.
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