rsc-universal 0.1.1

package/skills/bookkeeping/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: bookkeeping
+description: "Use when a small business needs clean, audit-ready books — standing up a chart of accounts, recording a transaction and unsure which account or which side (debit vs credit), a bank feed full of uncategorized lines, a month-end ledger that won't reconcile to the bank, or choosing cash vs accrual. Triggers: 'set up a chart of accounts', 'where does this transaction post', 'which side is a debit when I pay rent', 'my books don't tie out to the bank', '300 transactions sitting uncategorized', 'cash or accrual accounting', 'how long do I keep receipts', 'categoriza los movimientos del banco', 'mi contabilidad está hecha un desastre', 'cuadra el libro con el extracto', 'comptabilitat feta un desastre'. The loop is record → classify → reconcile so the numbers are trustworthy. NOT analyzing runway/burn/P&L or the monthly finance cadence (that is finance-ops), NOT issuing a customer invoice (that is invoicing), NOT setting a price (that is pricing), NOT future projections (that is financial-model)."
+tags: [bookkeeping, double-entry, chart-of-accounts, reconciliation, ledger, accounting, categorization]
+recommends: [finance-ops, invoicing, pricing, financial-model, cost-tracking, stripe, spreadsheet-ops]
+origin: risco
+---
+
+# Bookkeeping — the recording layer that makes the numbers trustworthy
+
+You are the bookkeeper. Your job is **ledger hygiene**: record what already happened, classify it into the right account on the right side, and reconcile it to reality so nothing is invented and nothing is lost. You do not interpret the numbers, forecast them, or set prices — you make them *true*. Every downstream skill (`../finance-ops/SKILL.md` reading runway, `../financial-model/SKILL.md` projecting it) is only as honest as the ledger you keep here.
+
+The whole job is one loop: **Record → Classify → Reconcile.** Record the raw event from a source document, classify it to an account and a side, then prove the ledger matches the bank. If you ever skip the third step, the first two are just opinions.
+
+## Route out before you start
+
+This skill answers "where does this transaction go and does the ledger balance." When the ask is something else, stop and route:
+
+- Interpreting the numbers — runway, burn, P&L review, monthly finance cadence → `../finance-ops/SKILL.md`.
+- Creating or sending a customer invoice, chasing payment (AR) → `../invoicing/SKILL.md`.
+- Setting a price or margin on a product/service → `../pricing/SKILL.md`.
+- Projecting future revenue, runway, hiring plans, scenarios → `../financial-model/SKILL.md`.
+- Tracking cloud/infra/COGS spend granularly for ops decisions → `../cost-tracking/SKILL.md`.
+- Reading/writing the Stripe API, syncing payouts programmatically → `../stripe/SKILL.md`.
+- Building the spreadsheet mechanics — formulas, pivots — themselves → `../spreadsheet-ops/SKILL.md`.
+
+Rule of thumb: "where does this post and does it balance" is bookkeeping; "what do these numbers mean for the business" is finance-ops.
+
+## Rule 1 — every entry balances: debits = credits
+
+Double-entry means each transaction touches at least two accounts, and **total debits equal total credits** — always. The check behind it is the accounting equation, which must hold after every posting:
+
+```text
+Assets = Liabilities + Equity
+```
+
+Why: a single-sided entry can record a number that is internally impossible. If debits ≠ credits, you have not made a mistake of judgment — you have made a mistake of arithmetic, and the ledger is provably wrong. Never post until the two sides tie.
+
+## Rule 2 — normal balances tell you which side increases
+
+Memorize this table; it answers "which side is a debit when I pay rent" without guessing. The account's *type* decides which side increases it.
+
+| Account type | Normal balance | Increases with | Decreases with |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| Asset (cash, AR, equipment) | Debit | Debit | Credit |
+| Expense (rent, software, wages) | Debit | Debit | Credit |
+| Liability (AP, loans, unearned revenue) | Credit | Credit | Debit |
+| Equity (owner capital, retained earnings) | Credit | Credit | Debit |
+| Revenue (sales, service income) | Credit | Credit | Debit |
+
+So paying $500 rent: Rent Expense (an expense) goes **up**, so debit it; Cash (an asset) goes **down**, so credit it. Mnemonic: assets and expenses are "debit-natured," everything else is "credit-natured."
+
+## Rule 3 — the chart of accounts is small and stable
+
+The chart of accounts (COA) organizes the ledger into five top categories: **assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, expenses** — the foundation of the whole double-entry system. Number them by range so the type is obvious from the code:
+
+| Range | Category | Examples |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| 1000–1999 | Assets | Cash, Accounts Receivable, Equipment |
+| 2000–2999 | Liabilities | Accounts Payable, Sales Tax Payable, Loan Payable |
+| 3000–3999 | Equity | Owner Capital, Owner Draws, Retained Earnings |
+| 4000–4999 | Revenue | Service Revenue, Product Sales |
+| 5000–5999 | Expenses | Rent, Software, Payroll, Bank Fees |
+
+**Start with ~20–30 accounts, not 200.** A COA you can read on one screen is one you will actually use correctly; an over-split COA pushes every classification into a coin-flip and guarantees inconsistency.
+
+Name accounts by what they are, not by a vendor or a feeling:
+
+```text
+Bad:  "Stuff", "Misc", "Amazon", "John's expenses"
+Good: "Office Supplies", "Software Subscriptions", "Owner Draws"
+```
+
+Add an account only when a real reporting question needs the split (e.g., you must report "Software" separately from "Rent"). Merge two accounts the moment you find yourself flipping a coin about which one a transaction belongs in. Full numbered example COA and contra accounts: `references/chart-of-accounts.md`.
+
+## Rule 4 — post from a worked entry, then check the balance
+
+Write the journal entry, total each side, confirm they tie. Two worked examples:
+
+**Paid $500 office rent from the bank:**
+
+```text
+DR  5100 Rent Expense        500
+    CR  1000 Cash                    500
+Debits 500 = Credits 500  ✓   (expense up, asset down)
+```
+
+**Customer pays $1,200 up front for work not yet delivered:**
+
+```text
+DR  1000 Cash               1200
+    CR  2400 Unearned Revenue       1200
+Debits 1200 = Credits 1200  ✓
+```
+
+Note the second one: the cash arrived but you have **not earned it yet**, so it is a *liability* (you owe the work), not revenue. Recording it as revenue is the single most common classification error — it inflates income and understates what you owe.
+
+## Rule 4.5 — the classification decision procedure (run this on every confusing line)
+
+The easy lines classify themselves. This procedure is for the ones that don't — and it is where a careless ledger goes wrong. Run it **in order** and stop at the first rule that fires; the order matters because later rules assume the earlier tests already failed.
+
+1. **Is it cash moving between two accounts you own?** (operating → savings, owner topping up the business, paying down the company credit card from operating cash.) Then it is a **transfer, not income or expense** — both legs net to zero across the books. The single most common bank-feed error is booking the incoming side of a transfer as Revenue. A transfer never touches a P&L account. *Test:* would the company's net worth change? If no, it's a transfer.
+
+2. **Did value flow in or out of the business, or just timing?** Cash moving does not mean expense/revenue happened. Paying down a loan, paying a supplier invoice you already booked to AP, collecting an invoice you already booked to AR — these only move a **balance-sheet** account (liability or asset) against Cash. Booking them again as expense/revenue **double-counts**. *Test:* "did I already record the expense/revenue when this was incurred/earned?" If yes, this cash event only clears the receivable/payable.
+
+3. **Is this the principal or the cost?** Split blended payments. A loan payment is **interest (expense) + principal (liability reduction)** — never all expense. An asset purchased on finance is the asset (capitalized) + interest over time. A payroll run is **net wages + tax withheld (liability) + employer taxes (expense)**. Decompose before posting; one line on the bank, two-to-three lines in the journal.
+
+4. **Capitalize or expense?** If the thing has useful life beyond this period and exceeds the business's capitalization threshold (set one, e.g. $2,500), it is an **asset** depreciated over time, not an expense booked now. Below the threshold or consumed this period → expense. *Refund/credit:* a refund of an expense **credits the original expense account** (it reverses the cost) — it is not Revenue.
+
+5. **Earned/incurred, or just paid/received?** Under accrual: revenue posts when **earned** (delivery/performance), expense when **incurred** (obligation arises) — regardless of when cash moves. Cash received before earning → Unearned Revenue (liability). Expense incurred before paying → Accounts Payable / accrued liability. A 12-month prepaid (insurance, annual SaaS) is a **Prepaid asset** amortized monthly, not a lump expense in month one. (Cash basis collapses steps 5's timing distinctions — but steps 1–4 still apply.)
+
+6. **Is it actually a business transaction at all?** Owner's personal spend run through the business is **Owner Draws** (equity), never an expense. A genuinely mixed charge (phone, car, home office) is split by business-use percentage; only the business portion is deductible.
+
+If a line survives all six and you still can't place it: **post it to a holding/suspense account and flag it — never guess into "Misc."** A flagged suspense line gets resolved; a wrong guess in Misc never does. Full catalog of the transactions agents most often misclassify, each with the worked entry: `references/tricky-transactions.md`.
+
+## Rule 5 — pick cash or accrual once, deliberately
+
+| Method | Income recorded | Expense recorded | Use when |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| Cash | when received | when paid | simple, no inventory, under the gross-receipts ceiling |
+| Accrual | when earned | when incurred | inventory, C-corp, or above the ceiling — and gives a truer P&L |
+
+US trigger: the Section 448(c) gross-receipts test caps cash-method eligibility at **~$31M average for tax year 2025 (rising to $32M for 2026, Rev. Proc. 2025-32)**, averaged over the prior three years. Above it — or with inventory or C-corp status — accrual is generally **required**. Why pick once and commit: switching method later means a Form 3115 and a Section 481(a) adjustment, not a checkbox. Spain note (autónomo) and full retention rules: `references/reconciliation-playbook.md`.
+
+## Rule 6 — Uncategorized must end at zero
+
+A bank feed is raw input, not a record. Drive uncategorized to **0 every reconciliation period** — an "Uncategorized" balance is a pile of unrecorded business facts pretending to be done.
+
+1. Set **auto-rules** for recurring payees (the same SaaS charge → Software Subscriptions every time). Rules cut the manual load on the 80% that repeats.
+2. **Review each match** against type/date/amount before accepting — auto-match guesses on payee strings and gets transfers, refunds, and owner draws wrong.
+3. **Batch-review** the long tail: sort by payee, classify in groups, leave nothing in Uncategorized.
+4. Treat automation as an **assistant, never the authority** — verify against the invoice or statement. Reconcile at least monthly; weekly for high transaction volume.
+
+## Rule 6.5 — month-end reconciliation, and what to do when it won't tie
+
+Reconciliation proves the book balance equals the bank statement balance for the period. Checklist:
+
+- [ ] Statement balance and book ending balance both pulled for the same cutoff date.
+- [ ] Every bank line is matched to a book entry (and vice-versa).
+- [ ] Uncategorized = 0.
+- [ ] Difference = 0, or fully explained by listed timing items (uncleared checks/deposits).
+
+**If book ≠ bank**, walk the diagnostic ladder — do not "plug" the difference:
+
+1. **Timing** — a deposit or check not yet cleared the bank. Legitimate; list it as a reconciling item.
+2. **Duplicate** — the same transaction entered twice (common after an import).
+3. **Missing entry** — a bank line with no book counterpart (bank fee, auto-debit you never recorded).
+4. **Transposition** — if the difference is evenly **divisible by 9** (e.g., $90, $540), suspect two digits swapped (54 entered as 45).
+
+Posting a "plug" entry to force a match hides the error instead of finding it — and the error compounds next month. Full diagnostic ladder: `references/reconciliation-playbook.md`.
+
+## Rule 7 — keep records as long as the law requires
+
+US retention floor (IRS "How long should I keep records"):
+
+| Keep | Records |
+| --- | --- |
+| 3 years | general default |
+| 4 years | employment-tax records |
+| 6 years | if income underreported by >25% |
+| 7 years | bad-debt / worthless-security claims |
+| Indefinitely | unfiled or fraudulent returns; asset basis records |
+
+Spain (autónomo, estimación directa simplificada): the obligation is **libros registro** — libro de ingresos, libro de compras y gastos, libro de bienes de inversión — plus VAT registers (facturas expedidas / recibidas), each entry carrying fecha, nº factura, NIF, base imponible, tipo y cuota de IVA, total. Full PGC partida doble applies under estimación directa normal. Detail: `references/reconciliation-playbook.md`.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+| Anti-pattern | Why it breaks | Do instead |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| One giant "Misc" expense account | Reports become meaningless; tax prep guesses | Real named accounts; split only by reporting need |
+| Categorizing from memory, not source docs | Invents numbers an audit can't trace | Classify from the invoice/receipt/statement |
+| Recording a customer prepayment as revenue | Inflates income, hides the liability you owe | DR Cash / CR Unearned Revenue until earned |
+| Treating an owner draw as an expense | Understates profit; distorts equity | Owner Draws is an **equity** account, not expense |
+| Booking a loan principal repayment as expense | Double-counts cost; only interest is expense | DR Loan Payable (liability down) / CR Cash |
+| Never reconciling, or plugging the difference | Errors compound silently month over month | Reconcile monthly; walk the diagnostic ladder |
+| Mixing personal and business in one account | Untraceable books, tax and liability exposure | Separate business account; owner draws/capital for transfers |
+| Trusting bank-feed auto-match blindly | Miscategorizes transfers, refunds, draws | Review every match against type/date/amount |
+| Over-splitting the COA into 200 accounts | Every classification becomes a coin flip | Start at ~20–30; merge when you hesitate |
+
+## References
+
+- `references/chart-of-accounts.md` — full numbered example COA across the five categories, contra accounts (accumulated depreciation, allowance for doubtful accounts), add-vs-merge rules, the over-splitting failure mode.
+- `references/reconciliation-playbook.md` — step-by-step month-end reconciliation, the full won't-tie-out diagnostic ladder, and the jurisdiction detail (IRS retention table + Spain libros registro de IVA fields).
+- `references/tricky-transactions.md` — the classification cases that bare judgment gets wrong: transfers, refunds, partial/overpayments, loan & finance splits, payroll decomposition, prepaids & deferrals, accruals, sales tax/VAT collected, merchant-fee netting (Stripe/PayPal gross-vs-net), bad debt, foreign currency, personal/mixed-use — each with the right journal entry and the wrong one it replaces.

package/skills/bookkeeping/evals/README.md

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+# Evals — bookkeeping
+
+These cases check that the skill activates on ledger-hygiene work (chart of accounts, categorizing a bank feed, double-entry posting, reconciliation, cash-vs-accrual) and stays out of the way for invoicing, pricing, forecasting, finance interpretation, and Stripe API work.
+
+How to run: there is no automated runner here — `cases.yaml` is read by the catalog's shared eval harness, or reviewed by hand. For each `should_trigger` prompt, confirm this skill would fire; for each `should_not_trigger`, confirm the request routes to the named sibling instead. For the `capability` case, run the scenario against the skill and grade the response against every line in `must_include` — all must be satisfied (correct five-category COA, debits=credits on every entry, owner draw as equity, loan principal as liability reduction, customer prepayment as unearned-revenue liability, and a reconcile-to-bank reminder). This is a process/judgment skill, so the capability rubric is the rigor mechanism — there is no `verify.sh`.

package/skills/bookkeeping/evals/cases.yaml

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+skill: bookkeeping
+
+should_trigger:
+  - prompt: "Set up a chart of accounts for my new consulting LLC."
+    why: Greenfield COA build — the foundation of the double-entry system, core to this skill.
+  - prompt: "I've got 300 bank transactions sitting uncategorized, help me sort them."
+    why: Bank-feed categorization to the right accounts; the Uncategorized=0 loop.
+  - prompt: "My books don't tie out to the bank statement this month."
+    why: Month-end reconciliation; non-obvious phrasing for "ledger ≠ bank balance."
+  - prompt: "Should I use cash or accrual accounting for my business?"
+    why: Accounting-method choice, with the gross-receipts ceiling and inventory trigger.
+  - prompt: "Which side is a debit when I pay rent?"
+    why: Core double-entry mechanics / normal-balance rules; non-obvious bookkeeping phrasing.
+  - prompt: "Categoriza estos movimientos del banco, mi contabilidad está hecha un desastre."
+    why: Spanish trigger — categorize the bank feed and clean up a messy ledger.
+  - prompt: "Where does a customer's upfront deposit post — is that revenue?"
+    why: Classification judgment; prepayment is a liability (unearned revenue), not revenue.
+
+should_not_trigger:
+  - prompt: "Create and send an invoice to this client and chase the payment."
+    route_to: invoicing
+    why: Issuing accounts receivable and collecting, not recording an event in the ledger.
+  - prompt: "What should I charge for this consulting service?"
+    route_to: pricing
+    why: Price/margin setting, not classifying or balancing a transaction.
+  - prompt: "Build me a 3-year revenue and runway projection."
+    route_to: financial-model
+    why: Forward-looking forecasting, not recording what already happened.
+  - prompt: "What's our runway and burn rate right now?"
+    route_to: finance-ops
+    why: Interpreting the numbers for the business, not posting or reconciling them.
+  - prompt: "Pull our Stripe payouts via the API and sync them."
+    route_to: stripe
+    why: API integration work, not categorization or double-entry posting.
+
+capability:
+  - scenario: >
+      Given six bank-feed lines for the month and no chart of accounts — (1) a $800 debit to
+      the landlord, (2) a $1,500 transfer to the owner's personal account, (3) a $2,000 wire
+      received from a customer for a project that has not started, (4) a $49 recurring charge
+      from a SaaS vendor, (5) a $600 payment to the bank against the business term loan,
+      (6) a $3,000 deposit for a consulting engagement completed this month —
+      produce a small chart of accounts and the correct journal entry for each, then state
+      the closing check that proves the books are done for the period.
+    must_include:
+      - Builds a small COA covering all five categories (asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense) with numbered ranges.
+      - Every journal entry has equal debits and credits, shown explicitly.
+      - Treats the owner draw as an equity account (Owner Draws), not an expense.
+      - Treats the loan principal repayment as a liability reduction (DR Loan Payable / CR Cash), not an expense.
+      - Treats the customer upfront payment as a liability (Unearned Revenue), not revenue.
+      - Posts rent and software as expenses (debit) against Cash (credit), and service revenue as a credit to Revenue against Cash (debit).
+      - States the closing discipline: the period is not done until the resulting ledger is reconciled against the bank statement (book balance must tie to bank balance, with any difference explained).

package/skills/bookkeeping/references/chart-of-accounts.md

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+# Chart of accounts — a worked example
+
+The COA is the index of your ledger. Keep it small, numbered by range, and named by what each account *is*. Below is a starter COA for a typical small service business — about 25 accounts. Add to it only when a reporting question forces a split.
+
+## Example numbered COA
+
+### 1000–1999 Assets (normal balance: debit)
+
+| Code | Account |
+| --- | --- |
+| 1000 | Cash — Operating |
+| 1010 | Cash — Savings / Reserve |
+| 1100 | Accounts Receivable |
+| 1200 | Prepaid Expenses |
+| 1500 | Equipment |
+| 1510 | Accumulated Depreciation — Equipment (contra) |
+
+### 2000–2999 Liabilities (normal balance: credit)
+
+| Code | Account |
+| --- | --- |
+| 2000 | Accounts Payable |
+| 2100 | Credit Card Payable |
+| 2200 | Sales Tax / VAT Payable |
+| 2300 | Payroll Liabilities |
+| 2400 | Unearned Revenue (customer prepayments) |
+| 2700 | Loan Payable |
+
+### 3000–3999 Equity (normal balance: credit)
+
+| Code | Account |
+| --- | --- |
+| 3000 | Owner Capital |
+| 3100 | Owner Draws (contra-equity) |
+| 3900 | Retained Earnings |
+
+### 4000–4999 Revenue (normal balance: credit)
+
+| Code | Account |
+| --- | --- |
+| 4000 | Service Revenue |
+| 4100 | Product Sales |
+| 4900 | Sales Returns & Allowances (contra-revenue) |
+
+### 5000–5999 Expenses (normal balance: debit)
+
+| Code | Account |
+| --- | --- |
+| 5000 | Cost of Goods Sold |
+| 5100 | Rent |
+| 5200 | Software Subscriptions |
+| 5300 | Payroll & Wages |
+| 5400 | Professional Fees |
+| 5500 | Bank & Payment Fees |
+| 5600 | Depreciation Expense |
+
+## Contra accounts
+
+A contra account carries the *opposite* normal balance of its parent and reduces it on reports. The three you will actually meet:
+
+- **Accumulated Depreciation (1510)** — contra-asset; credit balance; reduces Equipment to book value. Paired with Depreciation Expense (5600).
+- **Allowance for Doubtful Accounts** — contra-asset against Accounts Receivable; credit balance; estimates AR you do not expect to collect.
+- **Owner Draws (3100)** — contra-equity; debit balance; reduces owner equity when the owner takes money out. It is **not** an expense — it never touches the P&L.
+
+## When to add vs merge an account
+
+**Add** an account only when a real reporting or tax question requires the split:
+
+- You must report "Software" separately from "Rent" on a return or to a lender.
+- A category has grown large enough that one line hides decisions you need to see.
+- A regulator/jurisdiction requires it (e.g., VAT-bearing vs VAT-exempt expenses).
+
+**Merge** (or never split) when:
+
+- You hesitate about which of two accounts a transaction belongs in — that hesitation guarantees inconsistent history.
+- An account collects fewer than a handful of entries a year and answers no reporting question.
+- Two accounts are always read together anyway.
+
+## The over-splitting failure mode
+
+A 200-account COA feels precise and produces the opposite. Symptoms:
+
+- The same recurring charge lands in a different account each month because the splits are too fine to choose between consistently.
+- Reports have dozens of near-zero lines and the signal drowns.
+- New transactions stall because classification is a research task, so they pile up in Uncategorized.
+
+The fix is almost always to **merge down**, not split further. A COA you can hold in your head is a COA you classify correctly. Twenty-five accounts that are always right beat two hundred that are usually wrong.

package/skills/bookkeeping/references/reconciliation-playbook.md

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+# Reconciliation playbook + jurisdiction retention
+
+## Month-end reconciliation, step by step
+
+Reconciliation proves your book balance equals the bank's statement balance for a closed period. Do it at least monthly; weekly for high transaction volume.
+
+1. **Freeze the period.** Pick the statement cutoff date. Pull the bank statement ending balance and your ledger ending balance for the *same* date.
+2. **Match line by line.** Tick off each bank line against a book entry and each book entry against a bank line. Two unmatched piles remain: bank-only and book-only.
+3. **Resolve bank-only lines.** A bank line with no book entry is usually a fee, interest, or auto-debit you never recorded — record it now.
+4. **Resolve book-only lines.** A book entry with no bank line is usually a check or deposit that has not cleared yet — legitimate timing; list it as a reconciling item, do not delete it.
+5. **Drive Uncategorized to 0.** Nothing closes with transactions still uncategorized.
+6. **Confirm the difference is 0** or fully explained by the listed uncleared items. Lock the period.
+
+## The diagnostic ladder — when book ≠ bank
+
+Walk these in order. Never post a "plug" entry to force agreement; a plug hides the error and it compounds next month.
+
+| Step | Cause | How to spot it |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| 1 | **Timing** | An uncleared check or deposit. Difference equals an exact, identifiable in-flight item. Legitimate — list it. |
+| 2 | **Duplicate** | Same transaction entered twice (common after a CSV import). Search the amount; expect two identical entries. |
+| 3 | **Missing entry** | A bank line (fee, auto-debit, interest) with no book counterpart. Record it. |
+| 4 | **Transposition** | Difference is evenly **divisible by 9** (e.g., $90, $540, $63) → two digits likely swapped (54 keyed as 45, 91 as 19). Re-key the entry. |
+| 5 | **Sign / side error** | Difference is exactly **twice** a single transaction → it was posted to the wrong side (debit where it should be credit). Re-post it correctly. |
+| 6 | **Wrong amount** | None of the above patterns fit → compare each matched pair amount-for-amount until the off-by line surfaces. |
+
+The divisible-by-9 and double-the-amount tricks resolve the large majority of small discrepancies in seconds — check them before re-reading the whole ledger.
+
+## US record retention (IRS "How long should I keep records")
+
+| Keep | Applies to |
+| --- | --- |
+| 3 years | General default — most returns and supporting records |
+| 4 years | Employment-tax records (from the date tax was due or paid) |
+| 6 years | If you underreported income by more than 25% |
+| 7 years | Claims for a bad-debt deduction or worthless-security loss |
+| Indefinitely | Unfiled returns, fraudulent returns, and asset **basis** records (keep basis docs until the period for the year you dispose of the asset closes) |
+
+When records support more than one item, keep them for the **longest** applicable period.
+
+## Spain — autónomo / estimación directa simplificada
+
+Under estimación directa simplificada the obligation is **libros registro**, not full double-entry:
+
+- **Libro registro de ingresos** — income.
+- **Libro registro de compras y gastos** — purchases and expenses.
+- **Libro registro de bienes de inversión** — capital assets.
+
+Plus the VAT registers (when VAT-registered):
+
+- **Libro registro de facturas expedidas** — invoices issued.
+- **Libro registro de facturas recibidas** — invoices received.
+
+Each register entry must carry: **fecha, nº de factura, NIF del tercero, base imponible, tipo y cuota de IVA, importe total.** Under **estimación directa normal**, full Plan General de Contabilidad partida doble (proper double-entry) applies instead of the simplified libros registro.

package/skills/bookkeeping/references/tricky-transactions.md

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+# Tricky transactions — the lines careless judgment gets wrong
+
+The basic mechanics (debits=credits, normal balances) are not where books go wrong. They go wrong on a recurring set of transactions that *look* like a simple expense or revenue and are not. For each: the situation, the **wrong** entry that gets posted by default, and the **right** one. Run Rule 4.5's decision procedure to land on these; this file is the lookup of the answers.
+
+Convention: `DR` = debit (left), `CR` = credit (right). Every entry below ties.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Transfer between your own accounts (not income/expense)
+
+You move $5,000 from operating checking to a savings/reserve account.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Cash–Savings 5000 / CR Service Revenue 5000` — invents revenue. (Or booked as an expense out of operating.)
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1010 Cash–Savings        5000
+      CR  1000 Cash–Operating       5000
+  ```
+- Net worth unchanged → no P&L account is touched. Same logic for: owner topping up the business (that leg is `CR Owner Capital`, equity), and paying the company credit card from operating cash (that is `DR Credit Card Payable / CR Cash`, two balance-sheet accounts).
+
+## 2. Refund of an expense (reverse the cost, don't book revenue)
+
+A $200 software charge is refunded to your card.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Cash 200 / CR Revenue 200` — overstates income and leaves the original expense overstated too.
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1000 Cash                 200
+      CR  5200 Software Subscriptions  200
+  ```
+- A refund **credits the original expense account**, netting the cost to its true value. A *customer* refund (you returning money to a buyer) is the mirror: `DR Sales Returns & Allowances (contra-revenue) / CR Cash`.
+
+## 3. Collecting an invoice already booked (clear AR, don't re-book revenue)
+
+You earned $3,000 last month (booked `DR AR / CR Revenue`). The customer now pays.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Cash 3000 / CR Revenue 3000` — double-counts the sale; revenue is now $6,000 for one $3,000 job.
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1000 Cash                3000
+      CR  1100 Accounts Receivable  3000
+  ```
+- The revenue was recognized when earned. Cash collection only **clears the receivable**. Mirror for paying a supplier bill already in AP: `DR Accounts Payable / CR Cash` — the expense was booked when incurred.
+
+## 4. Partial payment / overpayment
+
+Customer owes $1,000, pays $600.
+
+- **Right:** `DR Cash 600 / CR AR 600`. AR carries the remaining $400 — do not write it off or call it discount unless agreed.
+
+Customer overpays: owes $1,000, sends $1,100.
+
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1000 Cash               1100
+      CR  1100 Accounts Receivable  1000
+      CR  2400 Unearned Revenue       100   (or Customer Credit liability)
+  ```
+- The extra $100 is a liability (you owe it back or owe future work), **never** revenue.
+
+## 5. Loan payment — split principal from interest
+
+A $600 monthly loan payment of which $520 is principal and $80 is interest.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Loan Expense 600 / CR Cash 600` — there is no "loan expense"; this double-counts cost (the borrowed cash was never income) and never reduces the liability.
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  2700 Loan Payable         520
+  DR  5xxx Interest Expense      80
+      CR  1000 Cash                  600
+  ```
+- Only the **interest** is an expense. Principal repays the liability. Receiving the loan originally was `DR Cash / CR Loan Payable` — also not revenue.
+
+## 6. Buying an asset on finance / capital purchase
+
+A $3,000 laptop+equipment purchase, useful life > 1 year, above your capitalization threshold.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Equipment Expense 3000 / CR Cash 3000` — expensing a capital asset overstates this period's cost and understates assets.
+- **Right (capitalize):**
+  ```text
+  DR  1500 Equipment           3000
+      CR  1000 Cash                  3000
+  ```
+  then each month: `DR 5600 Depreciation Expense / CR 1510 Accumulated Depreciation`.
+- Set a capitalization threshold (e.g. $2,500). Below it → expense now. Above it → capitalize and depreciate. A $40 keyboard is an expense; a $3,000 workstation is an asset.
+
+## 7. Payroll — three pieces, not one
+
+Gross wages $5,000; $1,000 employee tax/withholding; employer payroll tax $400.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Wages 5000 / CR Cash 5000` — ignores the withholding you hold in trust and the employer's own tax.
+- **Right (run):**
+  ```text
+  DR  5300 Payroll & Wages      5000      (gross)
+  DR  5350 Employer Payroll Tax  400
+      CR  1000 Cash                  4000  (net paid to employee)
+      CR  2300 Payroll Liabilities   1400  (withholding 1000 + employer tax 400)
+  ```
+  then on remittance: `DR 2300 Payroll Liabilities 1400 / CR Cash 1400`.
+- Withheld tax is **money you hold for the government** — a liability — not your cash and not an expense.
+
+## 8. Prepaid expense (asset first, expense over time)
+
+You pay $1,200 for 12 months of insurance up front.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Insurance Expense 1200 / CR Cash 1200` in month one — overstates one month, understates the next eleven.
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1200 Prepaid Expenses    1200
+      CR  1000 Cash                 1200
+  ```
+  then monthly: `DR Insurance Expense 100 / CR Prepaid Expenses 100`.
+- Annual SaaS, prepaid rent, prepaid insurance — all prepaid **assets** amortized over the term (under accrual). Cash basis may expense at payment; accrual amortizes.
+
+## 9. Unearned revenue / deferred income (mirror of prepaid)
+
+Customer prepays $1,200 for 12 months of service.
+
+- **Right at receipt:** `DR Cash 1200 / CR Unearned Revenue 1200` (liability — you owe the work).
+- **Each month as earned:** `DR Unearned Revenue 100 / CR Service Revenue 100`.
+- Recognize revenue **as delivered**, not when cash lands. Booking the whole $1,200 as revenue on day one is the classic income-inflation error.
+
+## 10. Accrued expense (incurred before paid)
+
+December electricity used but the bill arrives in January.
+
+- **Right (Dec, accrual):**
+  ```text
+  DR  5xxx Utilities Expense    150
+      CR  2xxx Accrued Liabilities   150
+  ```
+  then when paid in Jan: `DR Accrued Liabilities 150 / CR Cash 150`.
+- The cost belongs to the period it was **incurred**, matching expense to the revenue it helped produce. Skipping the accrual misstates both months' profit.
+
+## 11. Sales tax / VAT collected (liability, not your revenue)
+
+You sell $1,000 of services + $80 collected sales tax/VAT.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Cash 1080 / CR Revenue 1080` — inflates revenue by tax you must remit.
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1000 Cash               1080
+      CR  4000 Service Revenue      1000
+      CR  2200 Sales Tax / VAT Payable  80
+  ```
+- Tax collected is **money held for the authority** — a liability cleared on remittance (`DR 2200 / CR Cash`). Your revenue is the pre-tax amount. (Spain IVA repercutido works identically; the deductible IVA soportado on purchases is the asset/receivable mirror.)
+
+## 12. Merchant-processor settlement — record gross, expense the fee (the Stripe/PayPal trap)
+
+A $100 sale settles as a **$97.10 net** deposit; the processor kept a $2.90 fee.
+
+- **Wrong:** `DR Cash 97.10 / CR Revenue 97.10` — understates revenue and hides the fee expense entirely (so true gross margin is invisible).
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  1000 Cash                97.10
+  DR  5500 Bank & Payment Fees  2.90
+      CR  4000 Service Revenue        100.00
+  ```
+- Always book **gross revenue** and the **fee as its own expense**. Reconcile the bank deposit (net) to the gross sale minus fees. This is the most common Stripe/PayPal/Square bookkeeping error and it quietly distorts every margin metric finance-ops reads downstream.
+
+## 13. Bad debt write-off
+
+A $500 receivable is confirmed uncollectible.
+
+- **Right (allowance method):** `DR Allowance for Doubtful Accounts 500 / CR Accounts Receivable 500`. (Direct write-off: `DR Bad Debt Expense / CR AR`.)
+- Removing AR you never collected; do **not** reverse it against Revenue of the current period unless it's the same period as the sale.
+
+## 14. Foreign-currency payment
+
+You pay a €1,000 invoice; at payment the bank charges $1,080 (rate moved since the bill was booked at $1,050).
+
+- **Right:**
+  ```text
+  DR  2000 Accounts Payable    1050
+  DR  5xxx FX Loss               30
+      CR  1000 Cash                 1080
+  ```
+- The difference between booked and settled rate is a realized **FX gain/loss**, not an adjustment to the original expense.
+
+## 15. Personal / mixed-use spend
+
+Owner buys $300 of groceries on the business card.
+
+- **Right:** `DR 3100 Owner Draws 300 / CR Cash 300` — personal spend is an **equity draw**, never an expense, and never on the P&L.
+
+A genuinely mixed charge (e.g. a phone bill 70% business): split it — `DR Phone Expense (70%) / DR Owner Draws (30%) / CR Cash`. Only the business portion is deductible.
+
+---
+
+## When none of these fit
+
+If a line survives Rule 4.5 and matches no case here, **post it to a Suspense/Holding account (e.g. 1999) and flag it for follow-up** — then resolve it against the source document before period close. A flagged suspense balance is visible and gets cleared; a confident guess buried in "Misc" is invisible and never does. Suspense must be **zero at close**, exactly like Uncategorized.