"Closely related to the ideas of bond polarity and dipole moment is the concept of assigning formal charges to specific atoms within a molecule, particularly atoms that have an apparently “abnormal” number of bonds. … Formal charges, as the name suggests, are a formalism and don’t imply the presence of actual ionic charges in a molecule. Instead, they’re a device for electron “bookkeeping” and can be thought of in the following way: a typical covalent bond is formed when each atom donates one electron. Although the bonding electrons are shared by both atoms, each atom can still be considered to “own” one electron for bookkeeping purposes."
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John McMurry, Organic Chemistry 8th ed. (2012), Ch. 2 : Polar Covalent Bonds; Acids and Bases
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Formal charge
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