Do you pay tax on options?

[smallfil]

>>>He signed off my return and I can point fingers at him if I get an audit. <<<

Wrong. So very wrong!!! I do my own taxes and knowledgeable enough as I am an accounting graduate.
When you sign your tax return, you affirm that everything stated is true----not your tax preparer who does this!!! Take note of this. If anything is wrong with your tax return----it is you who pays big time!!!
The IRS expects you to know what is in your return otherwise, how can you affirm that everything is accurate to the best of
your knowledge?
A woman was on TV and was crying because her tax preparer put thousands of dollars in medical and dental expenses she did not have receipts for. She claims she did not know what her tax preparer did when she fully knows that she "did not have" those expenses nor the receipts yet, signed the return anyway!!! Also, she apparently, did not have a problem cashing her hefty refund. Do you think she will get off the hook?

 

[bighitter1]

i guess when you see 16 million illegal mexcians demanding there rights of free health care and welfare and never paying a cent of taxes it makes 10's of millions want to cheat. the tax system is unfair and compliance is low when honest tax payers see millions cheat

 

[Hybone]

Quote from lasner:

But your missing the point all they have to do is make you list it on a 1099. THEY DON'T!! WHY??

Like I said when I called the IRS they said it's a tax loophole. I don't know I guess I'll have to talk it over with my account

It seems like you want to justify your intention of not reporting it so you want to make yourself feel more at ease should you decide not to report, by gathering the troops here to agree with you.

Well you may get away with it, but in case you didn't, maybe you can log in to ET from the penn and tell us how you got caught. Good luck!

 

[whitster]

the very fact that you are posting this in ET and have already gotten a response will work against you if they ever wanted to snoop

computer forensics is a VERY important part of all financial investigations these days

get real

report the trades

 

[TGM]

Quote from joeyata1:

whistler i beg to differ but it is not income period it's a capital gain. earned income is fica taxed and capital gains aren't. wether an investor or trader as a profession your stock sales are not fica taxed so its a capital gain

Q. I have traded for 11 years in futures and cash forex. Which are taxed at the 60/40 rate. I have started dabbling in stocks and options of late. I always thought as a US citizen. Any short term options gains there were NOT futures based were taxed at personal income (maybe it is short term cap gains which is then kicked up to personal income rates?)?

I will have to ask my tax attorney. I always thought that cap gains ---is only given for the long (one year) holding period.

Since you traffic in stock options ---put up any tips for recording etc. I was just going to get one of those software packages. Futures taxes are a joke --compared to stocks and stock options.

 

[whitster]

no

futures (which are my bread and butter) are taxed 60/40

futures are REALLY easy to do taxes on because they are basically mark to market even for a person who is not a professional trader with market to market election

there's no wash sale issues (which applies to people who aren't mark to market)

it's cake

securities trades are cap gains -short or long, but they ARE capital gains, not earned income

HOWEVER, if you are a pro trader, you are stating that your cap gains are used to PROVIDE income, thus they ARE income, but they are taxed at standard cap gains rate.

the advantages of pro trader is that you can depreciate/deduct more stuff, you can elect MTM, etc. and you can declare ALL your cap losses in a given year if they exceed gains, whereas an investor is limited to 3k in excess of gains - then carry the rest.

buit if you buy something for one price and sell it for another, it's taxed at cap gains rate, regardless of what it is

 

[whitster]

my point was that you are right about futures, but not stocks

i din't make that clear

 

[TGM]

Quote from whitster:

no

futures (which are my bread and butter) are taxed 60/40

futures are REALLY easy to do taxes on because they are basically mark to market even for a person who is not a professional trader with market to market election

there's no wash sale issues (which applies to people who aren't mark to market)

it's cake

securities trades are cap gains -short or long, but they ARE capital gains, not earned income

HOWEVER, if you are a pro trader, you are stating that your cap gains are used to PROVIDE income, thus they ARE income, but they are taxed at standard cap gains rate.

the advantages of pro trader is that you can depreciate/deduct more stuff, you can elect MTM, etc. and you can declare ALL your cap losses in a given year if they exceed gains, whereas an investor is limited to 3k in excess of gains - then carry the rest.

buit if you buy something for one price and sell it for another, it's taxed at cap gains rate, regardless of what it is

I have trader status and have had it for years. I know futures tax accounting is a joke. So you are saying since I trade for a living and am a Pro-trader that any stock and options trading (no matter what the holding period) is taxed at cap gain rates. Cool. Cap gains rates on short term trading is the same as the income tax rates right? Above 250k --it is like 40 percent?



Thanks for the info. I need to look up the latest cap gains tax rates and break downs on holding etc.

Thanks again

 

[a529612]

"You don't pay tax on illegal income" - Al Capone

 

[GoldmanSax]

lasner,

i'm just curious how old u r and how many years have u been filing taxes? if i had to guess, i would say ur young and have very few tax years under ur belt.

this information is stated clearly in irs publication 550

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p550/ch04.html#d0e12764

so regardless of what someone told u, it will all come down to what is written there. which is, options must be reported.
u keep saying, how will they find out when this isn't on the 1099? well, in an audit, they can/will request all of this info from ur broker and not just a copy of the 1099. so it's the fear of an audit that forces people to comply, if u choose not to, that is ur gamble.

also please stop calling this a loophole just because u don't see this on a 1099, cuz it's not. let me give u another obvious example that u should have seen if u have done ur taxes for any good length of time and hopefully u will see an analogy.

a 1099 only reports gross stock sales. nowhere does it report what u purchased it for. would this we another loophole? let's say u purchase goog at $200 and sold it at $400. all the 1099 shows is u sold at $400. does this mean u should tell the irs u bought this at $395? why stop there, why not just say it was a loss?

so u see, just cuz the stock purchase is not reported to the irs, do u think u can just make something up? the answer should be an obvious NO, cuz if/when they audit u, they can get all of this info from ur broker.