How to zero account balance for 401K? Using Quicken 2017 Premier on Windows.

tas99

The account shares were transferred to 2 different accounts not owned by the Quicken account owner (due to death of owner). The account has over 40 stocks. I no longer have access to online download to automatically remove each stock in an orderly manner for each transaction. I don't need to keep the details, I just trying to zero the balance. Not sure of the best way (what transaction type) to do it, simply. Is there a single transaction type I can use?

Thank you.

q_lurker

You can:
a) create a temporary investment account
b) Use a Shares Transferred between Account to move holding to the new account.
c) Create a Banking transactions report for only that new Investment account.
d) From that report, select and delete all the transactions.
e) Delete the temporary investment account. 

There are also some other similar variations on the same theme.

In reality, manually creating 40 Remove Shares transactions all for All Shares should not be that time consuming and may be the easiest path. 

Tom Young

@tas99

I take it you are the accountant for the owner of the 401(k) (maybe your spouse) and that upon the death of the owner the shares in the Account (or Accounts) were distributed to "outside" beneficiaries.  In other words, the shares are simply gone from the Quicken file containing the Account or Accounts.

From an accounting standpoint the shares didn't just magically "disappear", they were distributed "in kind" to the beneficiaries  You can view this as a form of "expense" - a gift as it were - to the beneficiaries from the deceased.

Here's one way of accounting for this activity:

1. Sell all the securities at their value on the date of death.  (This value is the basis in the hands of the beneficiaries.)
2. Expense the entire amount of "cash" raised by the sales in a Category of your choosing - Bequest, Gift, Beneficiary distribution, or something. You might also use the Memo field to explain what was going on like "distribution of shares to beneficiaries."
   

This accomplishes the disappearance of all the securities in the 401(k)s and shows what happened to them.

q_lurker

You can:
a) create a temporary investment account
b) Use a Shares Transferred between Account to move holding to the new account.
c) Create a Banking transactions report for only that new Investment account.
d) From that report, select and delete all the transactions.
e) Delete the temporary investment account. 

There are also some other similar variations on the same theme.

In reality, manually creating 40 Remove Shares transactions all for All Shares should not be that time consuming and may be the easiest path. 

tas99

q_lucker, thank you for the quick and informative response. I may try your suggestion. The thing is, there is a second account with about 60 holdings, so a total of about 100 transactions to Remove Shares. Your concise option may be easier. I do appreciate your input. best, T

Tom Young

@tas99

I take it you are the accountant for the owner of the 401(k) (maybe your spouse) and that upon the death of the owner the shares in the Account (or Accounts) were distributed to "outside" beneficiaries.  In other words, the shares are simply gone from the Quicken file containing the Account or Accounts.

From an accounting standpoint the shares didn't just magically "disappear", they were distributed "in kind" to the beneficiaries  You can view this as a form of "expense" - a gift as it were - to the beneficiaries from the deceased.

Here's one way of accounting for this activity:

1. Sell all the securities at their value on the date of death.  (This value is the basis in the hands of the beneficiaries.)
2. Expense the entire amount of "cash" raised by the sales in a Category of your choosing - Bequest, Gift, Beneficiary distribution, or something. You might also use the Memo field to explain what was going on like "distribution of shares to beneficiaries."
   

This accomplishes the disappearance of all the securities in the 401(k)s and shows what happened to them.

tas99

Thank you Tom.
You are correct. I had created a Quicken file for my father, managed his accounts until he passed away last year. Once the shares were distributed to a sibling and me, I was so busy w/settling the estate I forgot that the FI would only keep the transaction history available for download for 3 months, and I missed that window. So instead of having to manually manage each holding (over 100 in 2 accounts) I was looking for a simple way to do it. The taxes have already been taken care of so I am not too concerned about how Quicken will report things, just that the accounts get zeroed out efficiently. Thanks for your suggestions.