How Pralana accounts for RMDs is confusing

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Last Post by Stuart Matthews 5 years ago

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Andrew Goulette

(@goulette214)

New Member Customer

Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 1

Topic starter October 10, 2021 12:00 pm

I was hoping that someone could clear something up regarding RMDs for me. It involves how Pralana handles RMDs.

RMDs show up in Tabular Projections/Withdrawals tab and Tabular Projections/Taxes tab. I guess I understand that, but why doesn't it also show up in Income tab under Tabular Projections. A portion of it should be included here and be counted in the Spendable Income column (IMO). It's money that will go into your bank account and you can spend it (also get taxed on it).

Then in Tabular Projections/Account Summary, RMDs seem to be included in the Total Expense column yet they are not shown anywhere in the main Expense tab. Also in Tabular Projections/Account Summary, RMDs are not counted in the Total Income column (although it is spendable income). These seem a bit inconsistent and confusing to me.

If someone could shed some light on this, that'd be great.

Thanks,

Andy

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Stuart Matthews

(@smatthews51)

Member Admin

Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 618

October 10, 2021 8:35 pm

Andy,

1. Whatever shows up in any of the tabular projections views is completely up to you. You can modify all of the views via the Tabular Projections > View Mgmt page.

2. Although RMD's are treated as ordinary income by the IRS, they are not income as defined in the PRC design. They are simply a distribution from one account to another and that's why they're not included in Spendable Income, Total Income or any other category of income other than "taxable income" as that relates to PRC's detailed tax calculations.

3. RMD's are not treated as expenses and are not included in the Total Expenses column.

4. You're right about RMD's being spendable, of course. The PRC design is that RMD's get deposited into the Cash account along with income as defined on PRC's Income page. At the same time, all expenses for the year are debited from the Cash account. If the deposits exceed the debits and that causes the Cash account's balance to exceed the ceiling defined on the Financial Assets > Management page, then the overflow amount gets deposited into your regular investment account.

Stuart

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