Do M2M Traders have to list all trades on form 4797?

L

listedguru

I'm curious how other mark to market stock traders here are handling reporting their trades on form 4797. Is it really necessary to list the trades on form 4797 or will a summary work?

Previously I have always listed all my trades on form 4797 but I had a firm that would do this for me. Unfortunately the firm is no longer providing this service. This would be a major pain to do this on my own.

Anyone care to chime on what they are doing with trade reporting?

Thanks,

-Guru
 
the taxman don't care about your individual trades etc.
They only care about your end of year 'net loss' or 'net gain' if any.
and if your gains are capital losses/gains or profits taxed as income or lossesas business loss.
 
So are you saying you don't list all your individual trades? Just the bottom line number? Are other M2M form 4797 traders not listing all their trades?
 
I use Turbo Tax and while, I do not have marked to market, you are required to provide detailed trade records on Schedule D of all your trades. The tax software just downloads everything on my Schedule D. All you need is login using Turbotax and it will do the rest. One click does everything. If you are required to report it in a form, Turbo Tax will do it for you. I am almost 100% sure any accountant or even H & R Block uses their tax software as well to do tax returns of their clients.
 
just enter the right 'net gain' or 'net loss'

easy way to figure out loss or gain is just look at you deposits, withdrawals.

and end of year net liquidation. value. or cash value. close all your positions at end of year. and compared to beginning of year. that is your net gain or net loss

most small traders don't last more than 6 months. before having to deposit more money.
your net account withdrawal is is more than deposits, that is your profit or loss.
individual trades like price paid and exit price and cost..is irrelevant.
 
Last edited:
smallfil said:
I use Turbo Tax and while, I do not have marked to market, you are required to provide detailed trade records on Schedule D of all your trades. The tax software just downloads everything on my Schedule D. All you need is login using Turbotax and it will do the rest. One click does everything. If you are required to report it in a form, Turbo Tax will do it for you. I am almost 100% sure any accountant or even H & R Block uses their tax software as well to do tax returns of their clients.
More...

Since I'm mark to market my trades go on form 4797. Do you know if Turbo Tax will populate trade on form 4797?

-Guru
 
This has been talked about many times , Gross sales minus gross costs Plus withdrawals minus dividends and margin interest . If you started the year with $200 k and ended it with $300 k and withdrew $50k then your net taxable gain is $150k . So if you sold $5,000,000 of stock then your gross cost is $4,850,000 for a net taxable gain on $150k on form 4797. I'm willing to Bet turbo tax won't do that . My trader Cpa used to have to manually type that on form 4797 and flow it to the proper form
 
listedguru said:
Since I'm mark to market my trades go on form 4797. Do you know if Turbo Tax will populate trade on form 4797?

-Guru
More...

I can only imagine it would. If you prefer, you can have H & R Block do your return. I do not think anyone is going to manually enter numerous trades. The tax software will do that for you. It goes step by step too if you wish over the various deductions and credits or you can go directly, to the forms you use. One last thing, Turbotax has various versions so, make sure to buy the one that deals with investments. Read the description as cheaper versions have only the more basic features. That is why they are cheaper. I think I paid over $100 with this year's 2019 version of Turbotax.
 
Last edited:
listedguru said:
I'm curious how other mark to market stock traders here are handling reporting their trades on form 4797. Is it really necessary to list the trades on form 4797 or will a summary work?

Previously I have always listed all my trades on form 4797 but I had a firm that would do this for me. Unfortunately the firm is no longer providing this service. This would be a major pain to do this on my own.

Anyone care to chime on what they are doing with trade reporting?

Thanks,

-Guru
More...
I count year end totals, it's how Robert Green did my taxes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top