tag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:/discussions/general-questions/99094-suggestions-for-handling-a-refund-from-last-yearInfinite Kind: Discussion 2020-06-14T11:28:11Ztag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/483937742020-06-09T23:05:01Z2020-06-10T20:24:25ZSuggestions For Handling A Refund From Last Year?<div><p>just a user,</p>
<p>Just create another income category. I've done that for rebates.</p></div>mhoggietag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/483937742020-06-09T23:38:36Z2020-06-10T20:24:25ZSuggestions For Handling A Refund From Last Year?<div><p>Thanks, for the suggestion, but I was trying to see if there was a way to do it without having to create another income category. It really isn't income in my opinion, but a refund of an expense from a prior year.</p></div>joeltag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/483937742020-06-09T23:54:52Z2020-06-10T20:24:25ZSuggestions For Handling A Refund From Last Year?<div><p>I'm a fellow user.</p>
<p>I understand that it is a negative expense not an income (a subtle difference) but what do you actually want to show in your accounts? If the goal was to show a transfer from your Cheque account for the months expenses then you would need to do two transfers in Moneydance one for the refund crediting the cheque account and then one for the debit for the actual credit card payments for the month, note that this would not reflect your bank statements in any way.</p>
<p>Or is your objective something different?</p></div>dwgtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/483937742020-06-10T11:14:19Z2020-06-10T20:24:24ZSuggestions For Handling A Refund From Last Year?<div><p>Thanks, for the suggestions.</p></div>joeltag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/483937742020-06-10T20:01:20Z2020-06-10T20:24:24ZSuggestions For Handling A Refund From Last Year?<div><p>From: sprimost (not MD support)</p>
<p>I am assuming you put a starting balance in the credit card account when<br>
you started using MD (either positive or negative). A credit/refund to<br>
the credit card balance is not income, but actually a reduction in<br>
expense within the credit card account, so using a contra account (or<br>
category) is not really solving the problem. In this case, it really is<br>
an effect to your budgeted amount to "vacation" (category that is<br>
"funded" by "income"or whatever you use to initially pay for the vacation it.</p>
<p>IMHO, you should handle this as a reduction of a 2019 expense as a<br>
transaction incurred in the 2020 Fiscal year, if your Fiscal year<br>
started on Jan 2020 using the Cash Accounting Method. Accept the fact<br>
that what was spent in 2019 is 2019 expenses. So the "refund" is not<br>
relevant for 2019 as per your allocation of money to different accounts.<br>
This is like getting a tax refund....you over-paid (or under-paid) taxes<br>
in 2019 but the accounting for the over payment or under payment is<br>
"realized" in 2020 with either a refund into your checking or savings account (or payment from your checking account. Thus, enter a<br>
transaction for the refund of as "payment" and add it back (assign in<br>
category field) to the "Vacation" category.</p>
<p>Using a contra-account for this really makes a mess of things,<br>
especially when handling budgets</p>
<p>Sorry for being long-winded, but hope this helps and gives you some<br>
background information on how MD handles this.</p>
<p>/scp</p></div>sprimost