FAQs

International

Which countries are supported?

US

The US accounting model is fully supported.

Australia

Australia has a similar accounting model to the US. However, in contrast to the US, gifts trigger the realisation of capital gains. Therefore, instead entering gifts with the gift action, record them as a trade for the value of the asset at the time. Put differently, a gift is the equivalent of selling the asset and gifting the resulting cash.

Other

The application will be useful insofar as the local rules can be mapped to the US accounting model.

Assets sheet

What is the assets sheet?

The assets sheet is used to record some basic information about each asset in the ledger sheet. Every asset in the ledger sheet should have an entry in the assets sheet.

How do I enter my own custom asset type?

You are not limited to the given asset types. Just enter the text you want and ignore the invalid warning. When you next complete write reports, your asset types will be added to the dropdown list.

What is the difference between the fiat and forex asset types?

Fiat capital gains are ignored. Forex is treated like any other asset type.

What is the decimal places column?

The number of decimal places indicates the extent to which each unit of an asset can be subdivided. e.g. USD can be divided into 100 cents (2 decimal places). Bitcoin can be divided into 100,000,000 satoshi (8 decimal places). The maximum decimal places is 8.  0 decimal places indicates that an asset is indivisible.

How do I get the current price?

You can use a google finance formula to fetch the current price for most stocks and currencies and some crypto. e.g.:

=GOOGLEFINANCE("AAPL")

=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:EURUSD")

=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:BTCUSD")

=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:ADAUSD")

In some cases it may be necessary to specify the exchange. e.g.:

=GOOGLEFINANCE("NASDAQ:AAPL")

Google provided a list of exchange codes.

Alternatively you can use the CoinMarketCap ID (see below) or your own custom method.

You do not need to enter current price for assets no longer held. If you don't enter the current price for an asset held, the capital gains calculation for that asset will be omitted.

The current price of the fiat base currency (e.g. USD) should be set to 1.

What is a CoinMarketCap ID?

The CoinMarketCap ID is used by the CoinMarketCap API to identify a particular coin. There is a list of some of them here. If the coin you want isn't listed, go to the CoinMarketCap page for that coin, then using the context menu find the name of the PNG icon. This number is the CoinMarketCap ID.

If a valid CoinMarketCap ID is entered in the assets sheet, the application will fetch the current price from the API the next time you select write reports.

A free CoinMarketCap API key must be entered in settings for the  API to function.

What is the timestamp?

The timestamp column is used by the application to record the last time the price was updated by the CoinMarketCap API. If the current price of all the coins has been updated in the last 10 minutes, the application will not call the API. You do not need to enter anything yourself in the timestamp column.

Ledger sheet

What is the ledger sheet?

The ledger sheet is used to record all your transactions in chronological order. You can also record them in reverse chronological order (most recent first). All you data is recorded in the assets and ledger sheets. These are the only sheets you need to edit. The remaining reports are generated from the information contained in these two sheets when you select write reports. You can delete all the reports by selecting delete reports. No user data is lost when you do this. Simply select write reports again to regenerate them.

How do I enter my own assets and wallets?

You are not limited to the given assets and wallets. Just enter the text you want and ignore the invalid warning. When you next complete write reports, your assets and wallets will be added to the dropdown lists.

What is the Ex Rate?

The ex rate is the price of the asset in the fiat base currency (e.g. USD) at the time of the transaction. It is needed in trades, income, donations and gifts given that don't involve the base currency. It is used to calculate the cost basis and proceeds of a transaction.

In some cases you can use Google Finance to fetch the Ex Rate e.g.:

=INDEX(GoogleFinance("CURRENCY:EURUSD", "close", $A19), 2,2)

What is lot matching?

Lot matching methods can have a significant impact on capital gains calculations. A lot is a an amount of an asset bought at one time for a single price. When transferring, selling, donating or gifting an asset the application needs to know which lots to select first. Values set in the lot matching column apply to the current and following transactions. The options are:

• FIFO = First in first out.

• LIFO = Last in first out.

• HIFO = Highest cost basis first out.

• LOFO = Lowest cost basis first out.

How do I enter a trade where the fee is denominated in a third asset?

Enter three trades:

1. Trade the asset being sold for the fiat base currency at the current exchange rate.

2. Trade the fee asset for the fiat base currency at the current exchange rate.

3. Trade the resulting fiat base currency amount and fee for the asset being purchased.

Open Summary Report

What is the open summary report?

The open summary report aims to give you information about your current holdings. It slices and dices the data in many different ways to take into account the various needs of different users. Scroll down the page to find the table that presents the data in the format you find most useful.

Closed Summary Report

What is the closed summary report?

The closed summary report aims to give you information about assets that you have sold. You may find this useful when it comes to tax reporting. It slices and dices the data in many different ways to take into account the various needs of different users. Scroll down the page to find the table that presents the data in the format you find most useful.

Income Report

What is the income report?

The income report aims to give you information about income from your holdings. It slices and dices the data in many different ways to take into account the various needs of different users. Scroll down the page to find the table that presents the data in the format you find most useful.

What does it mean if the income source asset blank?

The source asset is the same as the income asset.

Wallets Report

What is the wallets report?

The wallets report shows you where all your assets are currently stored. You may find this useful when reconciling your accounts.

Investment report

What is the investment report?

The investment report aims to give you and overview of how your investments are performing, overall and by asset type, in nominal and real terms. It compares your net investment with the value of your current holdings.

N.B. It doesn't take into account taxes incurred. It is for your information only rather than part of your tax reporting.

What does net investment mean?

Net Investment = Acquisition Costs - Disposal Proceeds - Income

What is the difference between nominal net investment and real net investment?

Nominal net investment doesn't take into account inflation. Real net investment takes into account inflation.

Likewise for nominal profit and real profit.

How are gifts and donations treated in the investment report?

The proceeds of gifts given and donations is the value of the assets at the time of the giving. That is to say they are treated as if the assets are sold and the cash is given.

The cost basis of gifts received is the inherited cost basis. That is to say they are treated as if you acquired the assets yourself for the original cost.

Troubleshooting

How to solve unexpected errors or report formatting  problems?

1. Delete reports

2.  Copy ledger

3. Write reports

Please note that ' Write reports' can take a couple of minutes to complete.

What does 'Copy ledger' do?

It copies the data from the assets and ledger sheets into new sheets so ensuring they have the currently correct version. It will rename the original sheets with the addition of a number. It is only really needed in order to troubleshoot a problem. You will be prompted to upgrade when a newer version of the ledger is available.