You actually have two transactions and you need to record them separately. The first is the return of capital on 50 shares, which you would record like the example in the Tutorial. The second is the reinvestment in new shares, which would be recorded similar to the Dividends Reinvested section of the Tutorial. The Dividends Reinvested would be easier to understand if the security account register is in either Auto-Split Ledger view or Transaction Journal view instead of Basic Ledger view as shown in the Tutorial. Then you can see the share purchase as a second (separate) line in the transaction. Actually, the return of capital is also easier to understand in either Auto-Split Ledger view or Transaction Journal view instead of Basic Ledger view so then you see there is actually no shares purchased.
On Fri, Jun 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM bunk3m <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm trying to figure out how to account for a quarterly distribution > that I receive from an investment (call it "LP") that is converted into > new units. While that would be similar to a distribution reinvestment > (DRIP), the income is a return of capital not income. > > I can't figure out how this is supposed to be done in Gnucash. While I > found parts of this transaction in tutorial and guide, I'm still confused. > > So the way I understand things, this is what I should see in the first > quarter after 50 units of LP were purchased at $10/unit and total of > $500. Return of capital $40 that is reinvested in 4 units. > > Initial purchase in first quarter: > [Asset:Investments:PrivateEquity:LP] $500 > being 50 units at $10/unit > [Cash] -$500 > > Distribution amount $40 (Price still $10/unit) in second quarter. > > After distribution there should be $540 in asset value of the units of > LP since there are now 54 units @ $10/unit. But the cost base of the > investment should be, I think, $500 ($500 initial investment - $40 > return of capital + $40 return of capital reinvested in units). > > Is this conceptually what is supposed to happen? If so, how do I get > Gnucash to show this? When I try to do the return of capital I end up > with the correct number of units but lower value and $40 income. > > Is a reference to help me understand this please let me know where to > find it. > > Thanks. > > > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > -- David Carlson _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
