I echo Sherlock's advice, with some additional observations. 1) Almost any sale of shares will result in gains or losses, and you should track them as such. Since they have no effect on taxes, I shunt mine all to Income:Realized Gains:Untaxed:Untaxed LT Gains. Recent discussions here regarding distributions suggest that there may be situations where the gains in a retirement account need to be tracked and reported separately, but as I have not yet crossed this threshold, I cannot comment. I also cannot comment on the lots feature; I find the lots tool in GnuCash to be quite problematic, and do not use it at all. I've raised points here and in Bugzilla on those concerns, but the upshot is that I don't use lots so cannot help you there.
2) I have read your description of these small amounts of cash, and do not understand what they are. However, if they do not change the number of shares held, I would simply ignore them, since the number of shares is ultimately what you need to track. In the final analysis, your account value is a function only of the number of shares you own, adjusted by the current share value assigned to them (usually at the time of liquidation). [Account "value" prior to sale is, at best, an estimation] David T. On June 11, 2026 5:52:21 AM GMT+05:30, Sherlock <[email protected]> wrote: >Hi Clint, > >Generally, there is no need to track lots in a 401(k) account. Otherwise, you >should treat the "Realize Gain/Loss" as non-taxable capital gain income. For >example, Income:Cap. Gain (long):Fidelity 401K:Fund A > >Regarding the "microscopic amount of cash", if this is a change in the value >of a holding, this could be a rounding difference due to price accuracy or >adjustment. If there is a cash transaction, I think Fidelity should be >providing the reason. > >Regards, > >Sherlock > >On 6/10/26 1:36 PM, Clint Chaplin wrote: >> This has absolutely nothing to do with using GnuCash itself, but rather >> what accounts/structure I should be using, so you are perfectly free to >> tell me this is the wrong place.... >> >> I have a 401(k) at Fidelity, and periodically an administrative fee or >> bookkeeping fee is taken from the accounts. The funds for the fees are >> raised by selling off microscopic amounts of the mutual funds the 401(k) is >> invested in. I do understand that those sales are not considered >> "disbursements" by the IRS, so no tax implications there. Also, the cash >> that is raised by the sales I record as an expense, just to keep track of >> it. >> >> The really fun part comes when I scrub the accounts and the "Orphaned >> Gains" are generated, which seem to represent the "realized gains/loss" of >> the microscopic amount of mutual funds that were sold. What the heck do I >> do with them? They are not cash income in the sense that I would think of >> it, but they don't seem to be equity, either. >> >> And, if that seems easy to you (it isn't to me), every so often Fidelity >> will take some microscopic amount of cash from one of the 401(k) accounts, >> but not sell any of the mutual fund to cover the expense. (we're talking >> amounts up to $0.05). Fidelity seems to have conjured the cash out of >> nothing, but I still would like to record it: the expense account to use >> seems pretty obvious to me, but what "income" account should I use? >> "Magic"? >> > > >_______________________________________________ >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. _______________________________________________ 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.
