I am in favor of the recent changes to Equity:Capital Gains, etc, which allow 
you to book the gains to whichever account you want. The downside is that the 
final cost is now ignored. Here is an example:

2014-06-30 Sell stock
    Assets:Stock  -40 TWTR {$30} @ $50
    Assets:Cash  $2,000
    Income:Capital Gains $-800

Now, change $50 to $5,000, and it still balances. The stock counts as quantity 
* cost, and the gain/loss is quantity * ( basis-cost), and the gain/loss is 
added to the total transaction, the end result is that the stock counts as 
quantity * basis.

The first solution that comes to mind is some kind of special syntax that 
allows you to capture the loss or gain. 

2014-06-30 Sell stock
    Assets:Stock  -40 TWTR {$30} @ $50
    Assets:Cash  $2,000
    Income:Capital Gains @@

This has the meaning “book gain/loss to Income:Capital Gains”. (The exact 
syntax is not important for now; this is the first thing that came to mind.)

This will guarantee that the split between actual cash and gain/loss happens as 
desired. In fact, you could even elide the other amount:

2014-06-30 Sell stock
    Assets:Stock  -40 TWTR {$30} @ $50
    Assets:Cash
    Income:Capital Gains @@

Thoughts?

Nathan

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