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Unable to paste transaction

Chris Sowerby

I have set up two artificial investment accounts to track tax liability on unrealized capital gains and RRSP balances. In the investment liability account I have no problem copying and pasting transactions to update the balance. However in the RRSP account, I can copy transactions but when I right-click, the Paste transactions command is always greyed out. What can I do to resolve this issue so that I can paste transactions into this account?

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unknown

You can't cut and paste to/from investment accounts.

All other account types, such as your "liability" account allow that.

q_lurker

I don't have any problems copying and pasting individual transactions in an investing account transactions list.

@Chris: Explain more about what and how you are doing. Are you copying from an investment account to a general liability account or is process wholly within investment accounts? What Quicken version?

thecreator

HI @ Chris Sowerby ,

Have you first clicked on the Empty Investment Line in your RRSP Account, then clicked Paste?

It should work, as long as the fields are the same in both Accounts.

And see this Article: https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/add-your-quicken-information-to-your-posts-plus-...

Comment Back.

Chris Sowerby

First, I am using Quicken Home & Business (Canada) 2019 R15.24 on a Windows 10 desktop.

I am copying and pasting transactions within the same account. I use this technique to replicate common transactions (such as dividends) because it's easier than starting from scratch each time. The security and memo information remains, I just change the date and amount. I have no problem doing this in any investment account except this one. I can copy a transaction from this account and paste it into another one with no problem, so the data is being placed in the clipboard. It's just that this account somehow blocks me from pasting - the Paste transaction command is greyed out. If I have to, I'll export and import the data into a new account but I'd rather avoid that because then I'll need to reconfigure all of the reports that use this account.

Also FYI I discovered long ago that in an Investment account, a copied transaction can be pasted onto any line because this opens a pop-up entry dialogue and the result is automatically added into an empty line. In a banking or property/debt account, this same action will overwrite existing data (which I wish Quicken would protect against BTW, because it's usually inadvertent!).

q_lurker

First, I am using Quicken Home & Business (Canada) 2019 R15.24 on a Windows 10 desktop.

I am copying and pasting transactions within the same account. I use this technique to replicate common transactions (such as dividends) because it's easier than starting from scratch each time. The security and memo information remains, I just change the date and amount. I have no problem doing this in any investment account except this one. I can copy a transaction from this account and paste it into another one with no problem, so the data is being placed in the clipboard. It's just that this account somehow blocks me from pasting - the Paste transaction command is greyed out. If I have to, I'll export and import the data into a new account but I'd rather avoid that because then I'll need to reconfigure all of the reports that use this account.

Also FYI I discovered long ago that in an Investment account, a copied transaction can be pasted onto any line because this opens a pop-up entry dialogue and the result is automatically added into an empty line. In a banking or property/debt account, this same action will overwrite existing data (which I wish Quicken would protect against BTW, because it's usually inadvertent!).

Perhaps a file validation and repair? File Operations.

mshiggins

From C. D. Bales:

There is no such thing as a U.S. Quicken RRSP account, so I have no idea what type account you created.

If you have setup an IRA account in the U.S. version of Quicken, see: https://getsatisfaction.com/quickenco...

[I can't recall the details at the moment, but I think there may be a few other limitations on investment accounts that are not plain-investment accounts.]

There is nothing you can do about the limitations; they're intentional.

Depending on the requirements of your real-world RRSP account, you may be able to use a plain Quicken Brokerage account with its Tax Deferred option set on.

Chris Sowerby

That's because I am in Canada, where RRSPs are recognized by the software. What I don't understand is that all my other RRSP and TFSA accounts in the "retirement" category allow me to copy and paste with no problem.

Chris Sowerby

First, I am using Quicken Home & Business (Canada) 2019 R15.24 on a Windows 10 desktop.

I am copying and pasting transactions within the same account. I use this technique to replicate common transactions (such as dividends) because it's easier than starting from scratch each time. The security and memo information remains, I just change the date and amount. I have no problem doing this in any investment account except this one. I can copy a transaction from this account and paste it into another one with no problem, so the data is being placed in the clipboard. It's just that this account somehow blocks me from pasting - the Paste transaction command is greyed out. If I have to, I'll export and import the data into a new account but I'd rather avoid that because then I'll need to reconfigure all of the reports that use this account.

Also FYI I discovered long ago that in an Investment account, a copied transaction can be pasted onto any line because this opens a pop-up entry dialogue and the result is automatically added into an empty line. In a banking or property/debt account, this same action will overwrite existing data (which I wish Quicken would protect against BTW, because it's usually inadvertent!).

I ran a validation and it didn't change anything. Because of an unrelated issue I'm experiencing, I did a file copy followed by validation and super-validation but it hasn't had any effect on this problem.

thecreator

First, I am using Quicken Home & Business (Canada) 2019 R15.24 on a Windows 10 desktop.

I am copying and pasting transactions within the same account. I use this technique to replicate common transactions (such as dividends) because it's easier than starting from scratch each time. The security and memo information remains, I just change the date and amount. I have no problem doing this in any investment account except this one. I can copy a transaction from this account and paste it into another one with no problem, so the data is being placed in the clipboard. It's just that this account somehow blocks me from pasting - the Paste transaction command is greyed out. If I have to, I'll export and import the data into a new account but I'd rather avoid that because then I'll need to reconfigure all of the reports that use this account.

Also FYI I discovered long ago that in an Investment account, a copied transaction can be pasted onto any line because this opens a pop-up entry dialogue and the result is automatically added into an empty line. In a banking or property/debt account, this same action will overwrite existing data (which I wish Quicken would protect against BTW, because it's usually inadvertent!).

HI @ Chris Sowerby ,

Make a Manual Backup, before you start, in case something goes wrong, so you can restore.

In fact, do a Manual Backup prior to importing the Transactions.

Can you export the Transactions from this Account only and save it, if a lot of transactions.

Once export and saved, delete the Account in Question. Re-create the Account deleted, with exactly the same information.

Now import the transactions into that New Account.

Tried again.

Chris Sowerby

First, I am using Quicken Home & Business (Canada) 2019 R15.24 on a Windows 10 desktop.

I am copying and pasting transactions within the same account. I use this technique to replicate common transactions (such as dividends) because it's easier than starting from scratch each time. The security and memo information remains, I just change the date and amount. I have no problem doing this in any investment account except this one. I can copy a transaction from this account and paste it into another one with no problem, so the data is being placed in the clipboard. It's just that this account somehow blocks me from pasting - the Paste transaction command is greyed out. If I have to, I'll export and import the data into a new account but I'd rather avoid that because then I'll need to reconfigure all of the reports that use this account.

Also FYI I discovered long ago that in an Investment account, a copied transaction can be pasted onto any line because this opens a pop-up entry dialogue and the result is automatically added into an empty line. In a banking or property/debt account, this same action will overwrite existing data (which I wish Quicken would protect against BTW, because it's usually inadvertent!).

Yes, it looks like that's what I'll have to do. I suspect that means I'll have to re-customize any reports that utilize data from this account, which is what I was hoping to avoid.

thecreator

First, I am using Quicken Home & Business (Canada) 2019 R15.24 on a Windows 10 desktop.

I am copying and pasting transactions within the same account. I use this technique to replicate common transactions (such as dividends) because it's easier than starting from scratch each time. The security and memo information remains, I just change the date and amount. I have no problem doing this in any investment account except this one. I can copy a transaction from this account and paste it into another one with no problem, so the data is being placed in the clipboard. It's just that this account somehow blocks me from pasting - the Paste transaction command is greyed out. If I have to, I'll export and import the data into a new account but I'd rather avoid that because then I'll need to reconfigure all of the reports that use this account.

Also FYI I discovered long ago that in an Investment account, a copied transaction can be pasted onto any line because this opens a pop-up entry dialogue and the result is automatically added into an empty line. In a banking or property/debt account, this same action will overwrite existing data (which I wish Quicken would protect against BTW, because it's usually inadvertent!).

HI @ Chris Sowerby ,

See what happens. Don't touch the Reports, until finished, restoring.

Chris Sowerby

Well, the story gets a bit more interesting. I exported my account transactions to a QIF file and created a replacement account but immediately found it wouldn't allow the transaction to be pasted either. I did some experimentation and found that the paste restriction is actually related to the type of transaction I'm trying to paste. I only use MiscExp transactions in this account, and that is the only type that I had been copying. It seems that other types of investment transactions do paste correctly into the account I'm having trouble with. I then found that I can't paste a MiscExp transaction into any of my RRSP or TFSA accounts, but there's no problem doing this in a non-registered investment account. This must be a constraint imposed by Quicken but I don't understand why it would be necessary. I didn't test all types of transactions, so there may be other ones that are blocked for pasting into retirement accounts.

Unless Quicken is willing to change this, I guess I'll be stuck with making manual entries.

Tom Young

I'm curious about what you're trying to do here and why you chose to create Investment Accounts, assets, to make your entries. Maybe you could give an example of an entry - which I'd guess is a credit (decrease) or debit (increase) to the Investment Accounts, (one for taxable investments and the other for a deferred-tax RRSP investments??) with the offset to some sort of "tax" Category or Categories?

Are you trying to create a balance sheet and P&L that's inclusive of taxes on unrealized gains and deferred taxes? Seems like that could be done in plain-vanilla Liability Accounts and only done at month's end, say, instead of what seems to be "real time" with each transaction that occurs in your Investment Accounts.

thecreator

Well, the story gets a bit more interesting. I exported my account transactions to a QIF file and created a replacement account but immediately found it wouldn't allow the transaction to be pasted either. I did some experimentation and found that the paste restriction is actually related to the type of transaction I'm trying to paste. I only use MiscExp transactions in this account, and that is the only type that I had been copying. It seems that other types of investment transactions do paste correctly into the account I'm having trouble with. I then found that I can't paste a MiscExp transaction into any of my RRSP or TFSA accounts, but there's no problem doing this in a non-registered investment account. This must be a constraint imposed by Quicken but I don't understand why it would be necessary. I didn't test all types of transactions, so there may be other ones that are blocked for pasting into retirement accounts.

Unless Quicken is willing to change this, I guess I'll be stuck with making manual entries.

HI @ Chris Sowerby ,

Now simply restore the Manual Backup, you had created, after you test the New Account with Reports. If the Reports are messed up, restore the Manual Backup.

When you say "MiscExp" transaction, what is the example of the kind of transaction that is failing to be pasted?

You may want to Join: https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/how-to-join-quicken-beta for Canadian Users, if you are willing.

Chris Sowerby

I want to associate outstanding tax liability for capital gains and RRSP value with my investment accounts so that reports such as Net Worth show the total net value of those investments after allowing for taxes that will be due in future. I could create the liability accounts under Property & Debt, in which case the bottom line wouldn't be affected, but I feel it's more appropriate to link the liability to my investment portfolio. BTW I do have a similar account in Property & Debt which tracks tax liability associated with future capital gain/CCA recovery on real estate holdings.

My entries are only estimates since the applicable marginal rates are just a guess based on projected annual income. I don't do this in real time; in fact I usually update it (manually) only at year-end to give me an idea of how much outstanding liability is associated with the investments and real estate. I created a category I call Tax Liability to capture the amounts.

Jim_Harman

For the purposes you describe, you might want to consider setting up a Portfolio Value and Cost Basis report subtotaled by account, exporting to Excel, and massaging the data there.

Chris Sowerby

Well, the story gets a bit more interesting. I exported my account transactions to a QIF file and created a replacement account but immediately found it wouldn't allow the transaction to be pasted either. I did some experimentation and found that the paste restriction is actually related to the type of transaction I'm trying to paste. I only use MiscExp transactions in this account, and that is the only type that I had been copying. It seems that other types of investment transactions do paste correctly into the account I'm having trouble with. I then found that I can't paste a MiscExp transaction into any of my RRSP or TFSA accounts, but there's no problem doing this in a non-registered investment account. This must be a constraint imposed by Quicken but I don't understand why it would be necessary. I didn't test all types of transactions, so there may be other ones that are blocked for pasting into retirement accounts.

Unless Quicken is willing to change this, I guess I'll be stuck with making manual entries.

They are Miscellaneous Expense transactions:

Thanks for the link. In fact I signed up for Quicken beta testing a couple of years ago but my life suddenly got very busy and I didn't have time to give it enough focused attention. Hopefully I'll be able to start contributing later this year.

Chris Sowerby

In fact, that's how I calculate the outstanding tax liability - I paste that report into an Excel template where I enter the marginal tax rate once and tally up how much I will owe. I then enter that data manually into the Tax Liability account. To avoid having to calculate incremental amounts to reach the current totals, I just reset the account balance to zero on December 31 and add the liability amounts for each investment account. The tax liability will be reflected in the TOTAL Investments value when I run a Net Worth report. If I do the report on an annual interval, the appropriate liability for earlier years is still available in the Tax Liability account. Obviously this doesn't do a good job of accounting for market fluctuations or investment changes during the year; it's just to get a rough idea of how much money is not really mine!

Tom Young

In fact, that's how I calculate the outstanding tax liability - I paste that report into an Excel template where I enter the marginal tax rate once and tally up how much I will owe. I then enter that data manually into the Tax Liability account. To avoid having to calculate incremental amounts to reach the current totals, I just reset the account balance to zero on December 31 and add the liability amounts for each investment account. The tax liability will be reflected in the TOTAL Investments value when I run a Net Worth report. If I do the report on an annual interval, the appropriate liability for earlier years is still available in the Tax Liability account. Obviously this doesn't do a good job of accounting for market fluctuations or investment changes during the year; it's just to get a rough idea of how much money is not really mine!

So a year end accounting entry might look like something along the following lines, (assuming the real Investment Accounts never swing to an unrealized loss)????:

Tax Liability Category debit (increase) $XX,XXX
Investment Account 1 credit (increase)    $XX,XXX

To account for projected income tax liability associated with unrealized gains in fully taxable accounts

Tax Liability Category debit (increase) $YY,YYY
Investment Account 2 credit (increase)    $YY,YYY

To account for increase (salary deferrals + unrealized gain) in retirement accounts

Chris Sowerby

In fact, that's how I calculate the outstanding tax liability - I paste that report into an Excel template where I enter the marginal tax rate once and tally up how much I will owe. I then enter that data manually into the Tax Liability account. To avoid having to calculate incremental amounts to reach the current totals, I just reset the account balance to zero on December 31 and add the liability amounts for each investment account. The tax liability will be reflected in the TOTAL Investments value when I run a Net Worth report. If I do the report on an annual interval, the appropriate liability for earlier years is still available in the Tax Liability account. Obviously this doesn't do a good job of accounting for market fluctuations or investment changes during the year; it's just to get a rough idea of how much money is not really mine!

Not quite sure what you're asking, but the "transactions" in the liability accounts are not linked to any specific transactions in the investment accounts. I simply enter a year-end Miscellaneous Expense amount corresponding to each non-registered investment account, equivalent to the tax that would be due for unrealized gains to date in that investment account - 50% times unrealized gain times marginal tax rate. For RRSP accounts, the factor is 100%. These entries are assigned to Tax Liability category (see screenshot example earlier in this thread). In the Net Worth summary, the value of the Tax Liability accounts at each date interval is tabulated after all the other investment accounts.