I am late but my $0.02. So the story about those fees from Fidelity is as follows:
Fidelity does actually perform sale of those small transactions but their web and export from the portal hides minute details and don't tell the whole story. How do I know this? When their OFX server was up (they are shut down now so it is lost cause), I was downloading transactions directly from those servers, and number of transactions gotten through direct OFX would not match transactions shown on the portal. Those direct OFX included what their ledger system did step-by-step. So those transactions you are seeing -- how miniscule they may be -- are really security sale transactions from customer perspective (large financial institutions aggregate them and sell/buy in large trenches). IMHO, that transaction should get denoted as multiple legged one: Sale of the security (proceeds and capital gains amount going to their respective accounts; will need to do so manually - probably using day's closing price) proceeds and capital gains amount from their respective accounts transferred to a brokerage account expense amount for fee paid from the brokerage account I also agree with many here that it is extremely tough to match GNUCASH entry-for-entry to what those big financial institutions keep and small imbalances you are likely to see as a result of it is from rounding errors. If you really want to match the register of GNUCASH entry-for-entry then you will have to create place holder entries but that will throw your reports off so you will have to decide what is more important to YOU -- entry-by-entry matching register or reports. -----Original Message----- From: David T. <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2026 1:37 AM To: [email protected]; Sherlock <[email protected]>; [email protected] Subject: Re: [GNC] "Realized Gains" in 401(k) 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.
