Investment anomalies?

[Jack]

On 2016.01.18 18:07, aga wrote:
> A few months ago I committed a fix to correct absence or  
> mis-labelling of the Price field in investment transactions.  While  
> doing some checking, I noticed that a Sell transaction still is  
> incorrect and I shall be submitting a fix for this.
> 
> Also, I've noticed that a Reinvest Income transaction appears to  
> require an income category to be specified, although the amount may  
> be zero. This doesn't seem right to me, but before I 'fix it', I'd  
> appreciate views from other users, who have an opinion on this, as I  
> know some have their own particular use of some of the fields, which  
> might not be what I would expect.  And, the user is always right...
> 
> Allan

It actually is important.  A dividend reinvestment is a dividend, where  
you immediately use the proceeds to buy more shares.  Although you  
don't have any cash income (so don't need a brokerage account) the  
dividend is income, and reported as such to the tax authority (at least  
in the US) so it is important to know what type of income it is - short  
or long term capital gains, simple dividends, .....  Also, depending on  
the type of account it is in, the income may be taxed this year, or tax  
deferred (for example in an appropriate retirement account).

Also note, the income amount is NOT really zero - if it were zero, then  
you wouldn't be able to reinvest in more shares.  It's only that there  
is zero cash coming in.  Dividend reinvestment is just shorthand for a  
dividend and a buy shares.  (As I've complained before, Merrill Lynch  
actually finds a way to report it as three transactions in my monthly  
statement.  One doesn't import, I delete one, and convert the dividend  
to a dividend reinvestment.)

Jack