Account TYPE in Q05

[William W. Plummer]

A friend set up an Investment account (i.e., the type is "INVESTMENT").
However it is really an IRA. So when she put her yearly contribution
in, it was just a normal transfer XIn rather than a ContribX
transaction. I'm assuming that TurboTax will need to know the right
transaction type in order to make the contribution tax free.

My guess is that if the account type is "IRA", every thing will be OK.
How do I edit this account type?

[Charlie]

Open the Account List (Ctrl+A), highlight that account, click Edit, then
click the Tax Schedule Info button on the bottom of the Account Details
dialog. There's a checkbox to indicate Tax-Deferred or Tax-Exempt.

John


"William W. Plummer" <William.Plummer@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:cLudnfLbaKM0xZDfRVn-oA@comcast.com...A friend set up an Investment account (i.e., the type is "INVESTMENT").However it is really an IRA. So when she put her yearly contribution in,it was just a normal transfer XIn rather than a ContribX transaction. I'massuming that TurboTax will need to know the right transaction type inorder to make the contribution tax free. My guess is that if the account type is "IRA", every thing will be OK. How do I edit this account type?

[William W. Plummer]

Thanks, John. I checked and the account was already "Tax-Deferred or
Tax-Exempt". So I still don't understand how Quicken decides a
transfer in is a "ContribX" or an "InX".



John Blaustein wrote: Open the Account List (Ctrl+A), highlight that account, click Edit, then click the Tax Schedule Info button on the bottom of the Account Details dialog. There's a checkbox to indicate Tax-Deferred or Tax-Exempt. John "William W. Plummer" <William.Plummer@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message news:cLudnfLbaKM0xZDfRVn-oA@comcast.com...A friend set up an Investment account (i.e., the type is "INVESTMENT").However it is really an IRA. So when she put her yearly contribution in,it was just a normal transfer XIn rather than a ContribX transaction. I'massuming that TurboTax will need to know the right transaction type inorder to make the contribution tax free.My guess is that if the account type is "IRA", every thing will be OK. Howdo I edit this account type?

[Charlie]

William,

I see now that I didn't carefully read your first post, or didn't answer
the part you were really asking about.

I found this in Help (Q05 H&B) for investment accounts:
----------------------------------------------------
Edit an account
1.. In the Account Bar list, select the account you want to use.
2.. Click the Summary tab if this is an investment account; click the
Overview tab for any other account type.
3.. In the Account Attributes snapshot, click Edit Account Details.
Quicken opens the Account Details window.
4.. As necessary, change the account information.
5.. To change or activate online services, click the Online Services tab
of the Account Details dialog.
a.. If you would like to activate online services for the account you
are editing, click Activate. Quicken responds by asking you for additional
account information. For more assistance, click the Help button in the
Online Account Activation dialog.
b.. To be able to view your account balance for this account on
Quicken.com, select the check box labeled Check here to view your account on
Quicken.com.
6.. To change the tax information for this account, click Tax Schedule
Info.
7.. When done, click OK to save your changes.

Notes
a.. For 401(k) accounts, see Entering updates to a 401(k)/403(b) account.
Depending on how you have set up the account in Quicken, it may be
preferable to use the 401(k) Update wizard to make changes to an existing
account.
b.. For changes to a loan, the recommended procedure is to edit the loan.
c.. You can use the Account Details dialog to add a linked checking
account for most types of existing investment accounts. You will be prompted
to back up your data file before the linked checking account is created.
d.. Once you have created an account, you cannot change its type (for
example, you cannot change an asset account to a 401(k) account), with the
following exceptions:
a.. if you have an asset account, you can upgrade it to a house or
vehicle asset account.
b.. If you have a tax-deferred investment account in a previous version
of Quicken, you can upgrade it to a Quicken IRA or 401(k) account. (Deluxe,
Premier, and Premier Home & Business only)
c.. If you change the name of an account, Quicken changes any transfer
transactions involving this account to show the new name.
----------------Format changed with cut and paste------------

Look at the "d" Note -- you can't change the account type. I think this
answers your question.

I was curious about all of this so.....

In my "test" file, I just created a new IRA account and transferred money
into it from a checking account. I entered the transaction using the IRA
account's "Enter Transaction" button. From the dropdown at the top, I
selected "Cash Transferred into Account." When I look at the completed
transaction in the IRA register, I see the Action as "ContribX."

Next, I created another investment account -- regular brokerage account. I
again transferred money in using "Cash Transferred into Account" and this
time, the register shows. XIn. From this, I would conclude that Quicken
knows that transfers into tax-exempt accounts are ContribX and transfers
into non-tax-exempt accounts are XIn. I suspect TurboTax will know this
too.

One thing I noticed that's odd is that when I was entering the transaction
in the IRA account, Quicken requires me to enter a Tax Year, but will only
accept 2003 or 2004, not 2005. I wonder why this is. I can't see why one
can't enter a transaction now for the 2005 tax year. Perhaps one can't
contribute to an IRA until after the end of the current tax year. Anyone
know?

John



"William W. Plummer" <William.Plummer@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:BMGdnS1hrdzSH5LfRVn-tg@comcast.com... Thanks, John. I checked and the account was already "Tax-Deferred or Tax-Exempt". So I still don't understand how Quicken decides a transfer in is a "ContribX" or an "InX". John Blaustein wrote: Open the Account List (Ctrl+A), highlight that account, click Edit, then click the Tax Schedule Info button on the bottom of the Account Details dialog. There's a checkbox to indicate Tax-Deferred or Tax-Exempt. John "William W. Plummer" <William.Plummer@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message news:cLudnfLbaKM0xZDfRVn-oA@comcast.com...A friend set up an Investment account (i.e., the type is "INVESTMENT").However it is really an IRA. So when she put her yearly contribution in,it was just a normal transfer XIn rather than a ContribX transaction.I'm assuming that TurboTax will need to know the right transaction typein order to make the contribution tax free.My guess is that if the account type is "IRA", every thing will be OK.How do I edit this account type?

[John Pollard]

John Blaustein wrote: William, I see now that I didn't carefully read your first post, or didn't answer the part you were really asking about. I found this in Help (Q05 H&B) for investment accounts: ---------------------------------------------------- Edit an account 1.. In the Account Bar list, select the account you want to use. 2.. Click the Summary tab if this is an investment account; click the Overview tab for any other account type. 3.. In the Account Attributes snapshot, click Edit Account Details. Quicken opens the Account Details window. 4.. As necessary, change the account information. 5.. To change or activate online services, click the Online Services tab of the Account Details dialog. a.. If you would like to activate online services for the account you are editing, click Activate. Quicken responds by asking you for additional account information. For more assistance, click the Help button in the Online Account Activation dialog. b.. To be able to view your account balance for this account on Quicken.com, select the check box labeled Check here to view your account on Quicken.com. 6.. To change the tax information for this account, click Tax Schedule Info. 7.. When done, click OK to save your changes. Notes a.. For 401(k) accounts, see Entering updates to a 401(k)/403(b) account. Depending on how you have set up the account in Quicken, it may be preferable to use the 401(k) Update wizard to make changes to an existing account. b.. For changes to a loan, the recommended procedure is to edit the loan. c.. You can use the Account Details dialog to add a linked checking account for most types of existing investment accounts. You will be prompted to back up your data file before the linked checking account is created. d.. Once you have created an account, you cannot change its type (for example, you cannot change an asset account to a 401(k) account), with the following exceptions: a.. if you have an asset account, you can upgrade it to a house or vehicle asset account. b.. If you have a tax-deferred investment account in a previous version of Quicken, you can upgrade it to a Quicken IRA or 401(k) account. (Deluxe, Premier, and Premier Home & Business only) c.. If you change the name of an account, Quicken changes any transfer transactions involving this account to show the new name. ----------------Format changed with cut and paste------------

Look at the "d" Note -- you can't change the account type. I think this answers your question.

Actually, I think you can. See below.
I was curious about all of this so..... In my "test" file, I just created a new IRA account and transferred money into it from a checking account. I entered the transaction using the IRA account's "Enter Transaction" button. From the dropdown at the top, I selected "Cash Transferred into Account." When I look at the completed transaction in the IRA register, I see the Action as "ContribX." Next, I created another investment account -- regular brokerage account. I again transferred money in using "Cash Transferred into Account" and this time, the register shows. XIn. From this, I would conclude that Quicken knows that transfers into tax-exempt accounts are ContribX and transfers into non-tax-exempt accounts are XIn. I suspect TurboTax will know this too.

I think this is right, but I don't think you took it quite far
enough. You can tell Quicken that your plain vanilla Brokerage
account is a tax deferred account; but Quicken still will not
treat deposits to that account as Contributions. I suspect that
this is because it is possible to have tax-deferred accounts
that are not controlled by the sorts of limits that IRA's are,
and to which, I think, the ContribX action would not apply. And
I think William Plummer has created such a regular Brokerage
tax-deferred Quicken account when he really wanted a Quicken IRA
account.

But there may be hope. It turns out that (in Q2005 anyway) a
regular Brokerage account that is also tax-deferred offers the
option to have Quicken convert the account to a 401k or an IRA.
On the account Summary tab in the Account Attributes area in the
Account Type field, below the phrase "Tax Deferred Investment"
should be a link saying "Convert to a 401k or IRA?" (the link
toggles off and on depending on the value of "Tax-Deferred"). I
suspect clicking that link will initiate the process William is
looking for.

I would backup my file first, and I would plan to do some
relatively rigorous testing following the conversion before I
would be satisfied with keeping the results. (Something in the
back of my mind is hinting there might have been some problem
reported regarding this process, but I can't come up with
validation at the moment).
One thing I noticed that's odd is that when I was entering the transaction in the IRA account, Quicken requires me to enter a Tax Year, but will only accept 2003 or 2004, not 2005. I wonder why this is. I can't see why one can't enter a transaction now for the 2005 tax year. Perhaps one can't contribute to an IRA until after the end of the current tax year. Anyone know?

You can make a tax year 2005 IRA contribution from Jan 1, 2005
until Apr 15, 2006. And during the overlapping period when both
2004 and 2005 contributions are allowed, Quicken sensibly
intends to ask you which year the contribution is for, but Q2005
has a small bug in the process when the contribution is being
recorded in the IRA account. You can work around the bug by
initiating the transfer to the IRA from the non-IRA account,
where Quicken gets the choices correct.


--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[Charlie]

William & John P.,

John P, you are absolutely right -- a regular brokerage account can be
changed to an IRA. I tried this on my test file, but did no further testing
to see if there were any negative effects. I didn't look thoroughly enough
earlier for a way to do that.

William, my apologies for the inaccurate information. As is often the case
here, John P to the rescue. (Too bad Help isn't correct, unless I just
misinterpreted it.)

Regarding my question about which tax year the ContribX applies to: John P,
right again -- initiating the xfer from checking to IRA shows the current
year. Yes, a small bug. Not too serious.

John B


"John Pollard" <invalid@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:379p2rF58tsifU1@individual.net... John Blaustein wrote: William, I see now that I didn't carefully read your first post, or didn't answer the part you were really asking about. I found this in Help (Q05 H&B) for investment accounts: ---------------------------------------------------- Edit an account 1.. In the Account Bar list, select the account you want to use. 2.. Click the Summary tab if this is an investment account; click the Overview tab for any other account type. 3.. In the Account Attributes snapshot, click Edit Account Details. Quicken opens the Account Details window. 4.. As necessary, change the account information. 5.. To change or activate online services, click the Online Services tab of the Account Details dialog. a.. If you would like to activate online services for the account you are editing, click Activate. Quicken responds by asking you for additional account information. For more assistance, click the Help button in the Online Account Activation dialog. b.. To be able to view your account balance for this account on Quicken.com, select the check box labeled Check here to view your account on Quicken.com. 6.. To change the tax information for this account, click Tax Schedule Info. 7.. When done, click OK to save your changes. Notes a.. For 401(k) accounts, see Entering updates to a 401(k)/403(b) account. Depending on how you have set up the account in Quicken, it may be preferable to use the 401(k) Update wizard to make changes to an existing account. b.. For changes to a loan, the recommended procedure is to edit the loan. c.. You can use the Account Details dialog to add a linked checking account for most types of existing investment accounts. You will be prompted to back up your data file before the linked checking account is created. d.. Once you have created an account, you cannot change its type (for example, you cannot change an asset account to a 401(k) account), with the following exceptions: a.. if you have an asset account, you can upgrade it to a house or vehicle asset account. b.. If you have a tax-deferred investment account in a previous version of Quicken, you can upgrade it to a Quicken IRA or 401(k) account. (Deluxe, Premier, and Premier Home & Business only) c.. If you change the name of an account, Quicken changes any transfer transactions involving this account to show the new name. ----------------Format changed with cut and paste------------ Look at the "d" Note -- you can't change the account type. I think this answers your question. Actually, I think you can. See below. I was curious about all of this so..... In my "test" file, I just created a new IRA account and transferred money into it from a checking account. I entered the transaction using the IRA account's "Enter Transaction" button. From the dropdown at the top, I selected "Cash Transferred into Account." When I look at the completed transaction in the IRA register, I see the Action as "ContribX." Next, I created another investment account -- regular brokerage account. I again transferred money in using "Cash Transferred into Account" and this time, the register shows. XIn. From this, I would conclude that Quicken knows that transfers into tax-exempt accounts are ContribX and transfers into non-tax-exempt accounts are XIn. I suspect TurboTax will know this too. I think this is right, but I don't think you took it quite far enough. You can tell Quicken that your plain vanilla Brokerage account is a tax deferred account; but Quicken still will not treat deposits to that account as Contributions. I suspect that this is because it is possible to have tax-deferred accounts that are not controlled by the sorts of limits that IRA's are, and to which, I think, the ContribX action would not apply. And I think William Plummer has created such a regular Brokerage tax-deferred Quicken account when he really wanted a Quicken IRA account. But there may be hope. It turns out that (in Q2005 anyway) a regular Brokerage account that is also tax-deferred offers the option to have Quicken convert the account to a 401k or an IRA. On the account Summary tab in the Account Attributes area in the Account Type field, below the phrase "Tax Deferred Investment" should be a link saying "Convert to a 401k or IRA?" (the link toggles off and on depending on the value of "Tax-Deferred"). I suspect clicking that link will initiate the process William is looking for. I would backup my file first, and I would plan to do some relatively rigorous testing following the conversion before I would be satisfied with keeping the results. (Something in the back of my mind is hinting there might have been some problem reported regarding this process, but I can't come up with validation at the moment). One thing I noticed that's odd is that when I was entering the transaction in the IRA account, Quicken requires me to enter a Tax Year, but will only accept 2003 or 2004, not 2005. I wonder why this is. I can't see why one can't enter a transaction now for the 2005 tax year. Perhaps one can't contribute to an IRA until after the end of the current tax year. Anyone know? You can make a tax year 2005 IRA contribution from Jan 1, 2005 until Apr 15, 2006. And during the overlapping period when both 2004 and 2005 contributions are allowed, Quicken sensibly intends to ask you which year the contribution is for, but Q2005 has a small bug in the process when the contribution is being recorded in the IRA account. You can work around the bug by initiating the transfer to the IRA from the non-IRA account, where Quicken gets the choices correct. -- John Pollard First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com Please reply to newsgroup