Dear Pranesh et al.,
I feel like a concept just clicked! Of course if I'm booking receiving the
money as Income then spending it would be at my Expense. I don't think that
I want to actually count this benefit as income then, especially since it
is also non-taxable to me.
If I do swap to an asset/receivable approach, I think my transactions would
look like this:
2019-03-01 * "Commuter Debit Card" "load of value"
Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard 100.00 USD
What:Is:This:Account?
2019-03-10 * "Public Transit Authority" "bought weekly pass"
Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard -15.00 USD
What:Is:This:Account?
In the first transaction, I have to create value in an Asset with no clear
(to me) source and then in the second I then spend that value. Should those
two legs be on the same account so once I've spent all my commuter money
both Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard and the other account are back at 0?
Thanks,
Scott
On Tuesday, July 2, 2019 at 2:12:38 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
>
> Dear Scott,
> What you are doing currently is correct. From your perspective, it *is* an
> expense, since you're recording the money you get from your company ("
> Income:US:Hooli:Reimbursements:CommuterBenefit") as an income.
>
> This recording of income makes this a case of "spending using company
> resources", rather than "spending on behalf of the company" (which gets
> recorded as a receivable asset, since you'll get reimbursed). If you want,
> you can mark such expenses separately as,
> "Expenses:Hooli:Travel:PublicTransit", so that you can distinguish between
> your personal expenses, and expenses using company resources. (FWIW, I
> also track the value on my transit card.)
>
> I hope that helps.
>
> Regards,
> Pranesh
>
> On Monday, 1 July 2019 07:17:40 UTC+5:30, Scott Colby wrote:
>>
>> I am able to be reimbursed for the costs of public transit through my
>> company. This is done in two manners, either by direct reimbursement in my
>> paycheck or a pre-loaded debit card. I utilized the former option for the
>> first couple months until the debit card was issued to me.
>>
>> What kind of account should I use for the "expense" leg of the public
>> transit purchases? I've previously booked public transit costs under
>> `Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit`, but in this case this isn't my expense,
>> it's my company's.
>>
>> Below is an example of my beancount file. The two legs marked with `<--`
>> are those I have questions about.
>>
>> 2019-01-01 open Income:US:Hooli:Reimbursements:CommuterBenefit USD ;
>> started work on New Years?
>>
>> 2019-01-01 open Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli USD
>> 2019-03-01 open Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard USD ; finally got the
>> debit card in March
>>
>> 2019-01-03 open Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue USD ; got my stored
>> value card a soon after starting work
>>
>> ; the process of using a receivable for the reimbursement makes sense
>>
>> 2019-01-03 * "Public Transit Authority" "card purchase and add value" ^
>> commute-benefit-jan-19
>> Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli 1.00 USD ; the card cost $1
>> Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue 20.00 USD ; and I added $20 to
>> it
>> Liabilities:MyCreditCard
>>
>> 2019-01-11 * "Public Transit Authority" "bus fare 2019-01-03 --
>> 2019-01-11" ^commute-benefit-jan-19
>> Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue -20.00 USD
>> Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli
>>
>> 2019-01-20 * "Hooli Payroll" ^commute-benefit-jan-19
>> Assets:US:MyBank:Checking 21.00 USD
>> Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli
>> ; etc.
>>
>> ; ...
>>
>> ; however the process for using the debit card does not make sense to me
>> at the moment
>>
>> 2019-03-01 * "Commuter Debit Card" "load of value" ^commute-benefit-mar-
>> 19
>> Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard 100.00 USD
>> Income:US:Hooli:Reimbursements:CommuterBenefit
>>
>> 2019-03-01 * "Public Transit Authority" "add value" ^commute-benefit-mar-
>> 19
>> Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue 20.00 USD
>> Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard
>>
>> 2019-03-08 * "Public Transit Authority" "bus fare 2019-03-01 --
>> 2019-03-08" ^commute-benefit-mar-19
>> Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue -20.00 USD
>> Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit ; <-- this is my question
>>
>> 2019-03-10 * "Public Transit Authority" "bought weekly pass" ^commute-
>> benefit-mar-19
>> Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard -15.00 USD
>> Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit ; <-- same question
>>
>> (I realize tracking the exact value on my transit card is a
>> bit...pedantic and, to be honest, I'm considering ignoring it entirely but
>> now that I'm wrestling with the problem of how to book these I'm interested
>> in finding out how to do so.)
>>
>>
>>
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