diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Balancing.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Balancing.hs
index fe6337e42..4e54d4b18 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Balancing.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Balancing.hs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ module Hledger.Data.Balancing
 , balanceTransaction
 , balanceTransactionHelper
   -- * assertion validation
-, checkAssertions
+, transactionCheckAssertions
   -- * journal balancing
 , journalBalanceTransactions
   -- * tests
@@ -150,12 +150,14 @@ isTransactionBalanced bopts = null . transactionCheckBalanced bopts
 
 -- | Verify that any assertions in this transaction hold 
 -- when included in the larger journal.
-checkAssertions :: BalancingOpts -> Journal -> Transaction -> Either String Transaction
-checkAssertions bopts j t =
+transactionCheckAssertions :: BalancingOpts -> Journal -> Transaction -> Either String Transaction
+transactionCheckAssertions bopts j t =
   if (ignore_assertions_ bopts) || noassertions t then Right t else do
     j' <- journalStyleAmounts j 
     let newtxns = sortOn tdate (jtxns j' ++ [ t ])
-    fmap (\_ -> t) $ journalBalanceTransactions defbalancingopts j'{jtxns = newtxns}
+    case journalBalanceTransactions defbalancingopts j'{jtxns = newtxns} of
+      Right _ -> Right t
+      Left e -> Left e
   where
     noassertions = all (isNothing . pbalanceassertion) . tpostings
 
@@ -1085,16 +1087,16 @@ tests_Balancing =
 
     ]
 
-    ,testGroup "checkAssertions" $ [
+    ,testGroup "transactionCheckAssertions" $ [
       testCase "simple assertion on same day" $ do 
         assertRight $ 
-          checkAssertions defbalancingopts nulljournal{ jtxns = [
+          transactionCheckAssertions defbalancingopts nulljournal{ jtxns = [
             transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 01) [ vpost' "a" (usd 1) Nothing ]
             ] } (transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 01) [ vpost' "a" (usd 1) (balassert (usd 2)) ])
 
       ,testCase "inclusive assertions" $ do 
         assertRight $ 
-          checkAssertions defbalancingopts nulljournal{ jtxns = [
+          transactionCheckAssertions defbalancingopts nulljournal{ jtxns = [
             transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 01) [ vpost' "a:a" (usd 1) Nothing ] 
             ,transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 02) [ vpost' "a:b" (usd 2) Nothing]
             ,transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 02) [ vpost' "a:c" (usd 5) Nothing]
@@ -1103,7 +1105,7 @@ tests_Balancing =
 
       ,testCase "multicommodity assertion" $ do 
         assertRight $ 
-          checkAssertions defbalancingopts nulljournal{ jtxns = [
+          transactionCheckAssertions defbalancingopts nulljournal{ jtxns = [
             transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 01) [ vpost' "a" (usd 1) Nothing ] 
             ,transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 02) [ vpost' "a:b" (eur 2) Nothing ]
             ,transaction (fromGregorian 2025 01 02) [ vpost' "a:c" (usd 5) Nothing ]
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs
index 7ef9a6a3d..76c68a901 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs
@@ -232,12 +232,9 @@ confirmedTransactionWizard prevInput es@EntryState{..} stack@(currentStage : _)
 
   EnterAmountAndComment txnParams account -> amountAndCommentWizard prevInput es >>= \case
     Just (amt, assertion, (comment, tags, pdate1, pdate2)) -> do
-      -- This check is necessary because we cons a ';' in the comment parser above,
-      -- and we don't want to add an empty comment here if it wasn't given.
-      let pcomment = if T.length comment == 1 then "" else comment
       let p = nullposting{paccount=T.pack $ stripbrackets account
                           ,pamount=mixedAmount amt
-                          ,pcomment=pcomment
+                          ,pcomment=T.dropAround isNewline comment
                           ,ptype=accountNamePostingType $ T.pack account
                           ,pbalanceassertion = assertion
                           ,pdate=pdate1
@@ -251,7 +248,7 @@ confirmedTransactionWizard prevInput es@EntryState{..} stack@(currentStage : _)
           dummytxn = nulltransaction{tpostings = esPostings ++ [p, post "" missingamt]
                                      ,tdate = txnDate txnParams
                                      ,tdescription = txnDesc txnParams }
-          validated = balanceTransaction defbalancingopts dummytxn >>= checkAssertions defbalancingopts esJournal
+          validated = balanceTransaction defbalancingopts dummytxn >>= transactionCheckAssertions defbalancingopts esJournal
       case validated of
         Left err -> do
           liftIO (hPutStrLn stderr err)
@@ -388,7 +385,8 @@ amountAndCommentWizard previnput@PrevInput{..} entrystate@EntryState{..} = do
         com <- T.pack <$> fromMaybe "" `fmap` optional (char ';' >> many anySingle)
         case rtp (postingcommentp Nothing) (T.cons ';' com) of
           Left err -> fail $ customErrorBundlePretty err
-          Right comment -> return $ (a, assertion, comment)
+          -- Keep our original comment string from the user to add to the journal
+          Right (_, tags, date1', date2') -> return $ (a, assertion, (com, tags, date1', date2'))
       balancingamt = maNegate . sumPostings $ filter isReal esPostings
       balancingamtfirstcommodity = mixed . take 1 $ amounts balancingamt
       showamt = wbUnpack . showMixedAmountB defaultFmt . mixedAmountSetPrecision