How to record an Roth IRA custodial fee

jess8887

I'm trying to record a transaction to redeem shares to cover the cost of a Roth IRA custodial fee. I found this article (https://www.quicken.com/support/how-do-i-redeem-shares-ira-custodial-fees) on the Quicken Help page. But it's either for Quicken for Windows, obsolete or I'm doing something wrong. Most likely the latter.

The article indicated: (1) enter Sell transaction (2) enter the share price and the total amount, so that Quicken calculates the number of shares (3) finally, enter the same dollar amount in the fee in Commission/Fee filed to make the net amount of the transaction zero.

However, following these instructions in step 3 (i.e., enter same dollar amount in the commission field) does not make the transaction amount transaction zero. It just change the "price per share" amount so the original transaction amount stays the same (in my case $10.00). Now my cash balance incorrectly shows $10.00.

I though I could recorded two transaction (1) a "sell" transaction (2) a second transaction as a "miscellaneous expense" to remove the $10 cash balance.

This did result in the zero net amount for the IRA custodial fee, but it changed (reduced) my cost basis by the exact amount of the custodial fee. I'm not sure if this is correct, because now my "Quicken Cost Basis" no longer matches my broker's account statement cost basis.

I would appreciate help on how I should correctly the enter custodial fee.

RickO

I would not record an IRA custodial fee as an offsetting commission. It's not, after all, really a commission. Instead I would enter a Payment transaction using a category such as "IRA Custodial Fee". You could use the default category "Bank Fees", but I would rather create my own custom category to better track this type of expense.

If there is not cash already in the account to cover the Payment transaction (i.e., shares of something were sold to pay the fee), then enter a Sell transaction on the same date to reflect this aspect. The two transactions (Sell and Payment) will result in a net-zero change in cash balance.

Frankx

I think the original advice you were given is basically correct, but something went wrong in the execution.  You may have seen a pop-up window when you did step 3) that asked which one of the components of the transaction you wanted to change (that's what happens in Q Windows) and at that point you should have selected "Total Amount" which would have been zero.  

You may be able to go back into the transaction that went awry and edit it.

Hope this helps.

jess8887

I'm sorry, I was not clear that I was using Quicken for Mac. There's no pop-up in the Mac version that ask which on of the components I would like to change.

RickO

I would not record an IRA custodial fee as an offsetting commission. It's not, after all, really a commission. Instead I would enter a Payment transaction using a category such as "IRA Custodial Fee". You could use the default category "Bank Fees", but I would rather create my own custom category to better track this type of expense.

If there is not cash already in the account to cover the Payment transaction (i.e., shares of something were sold to pay the fee), then enter a Sell transaction on the same date to reflect this aspect. The two transactions (Sell and Payment) will result in a net-zero change in cash balance.

jess8887

RickO,

I will try your recommendation and see the results. Thank you