Add a MiscExp field to the Income Reinvested transaction window

PCWizard
PCWizard Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭
in Manage Accounts and Transactions

Months ago and again this quarter I'm seeing Dividend Entries in my Etrade Brokerage statements that show differences between the Dividend and the amount actually Reinvested. In the Comments column of my brokerage statement is the note ACTED AS AGENT. The amount in question ranges from $0.01 to $1.51. I gather this hit is incurred when my brokerage goes "outside" to complete the transaction. The transaction entry doesn't have any category for this or even a way to enter it as a MiscExp. The only community suggestion was to enter 3 separate transactions, Dividend, MiscExp, and then Buy. Workable but 3 transaction entries for what should be one. I think the best solution would be for Quicken to add a MiscExp field in the transaction window, maybe just above (or below) the Commission field. I can't be the only Quicken user dealing with this and it would make entering reinvestment transactions so much easier when these ACTED AS AGENT expenses occur.

MiscExp Suggestion.JPG
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  • NotACPA
    NotACPA Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Why can't you just use that Commission field? It works the same way as your request would.

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • PCWizard
    PCWizard Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭
    edited April 6

    That would work for me but I was worried about mischaracterizing a (bizarro) expense as a commission somehow haunting me down the road. I'm a retired IT Tech and like your handle, Not A CPA either.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 6

    Maybe Quicken Inc should just change the term "Commissions" to "Fees".

  • PCWizard
    PCWizard Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭

    Not being as good an accountant as a tech I agree that would meet my needs but I just presumed there was a reason for different expense categories to exist and I might mess things up down the road.

  • q_lurker
    q_lurker Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    A commission on a purchase increases the basis thus reducing future capital gains. Is that what E*Trade is showing - that the basis of the shares acquired by their reinvestment includes the ‘fee’? If so, you could do the commission route, or I believe, ignore it -you’ve gotten a certain number of shares for the full dividend amount. Granted, that is slightly fewer shares than if the fee was not taken.

    If the fee does not get included in the basis, I think you are stuck with three transactions as the final presentation - dividend, shares bought, and misc expense - even if the data gets entered on one form.

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