Eur/USD

[kotika]

yeah thats right... the projection for German GDP has been raised for the fourth time in a row--- to 1.6%

go euro go.... just kidding

-----------------------------------------
Germany's gross domestic product will expand 1.6 percent in 2006, the Economy Ministry said, one day after the country's six leading economic institutes raised their forecast to 1.8 percent. The government's January forecast was 1.4 percent. Growth will slow to 1 percent next year, the ministry said today.

 

[polpolik]

hey guys, I trade the currency futures instead of trading the underlying pairs directly. How do you guys do your taxes? just curious. I don't have any plans to trade forex though using IB - their interface sucks.

I have done the Oanda FXGame and I love their interface, everything is so fluid and well thought out.

At any rate, profits on Forex trades are counted as interests and income, not the typical Sched D investment, right?

 

[GlobalFinancier]

Actually, he didn't bail out, he cut down positions from $21 billion to $16.3 billion.
And forex contracts are marked to market, so he made a lot of money from EU bonds already.

 

[taodr]

This morning they are rising and falling almost in unison.

 

[late apex]

Quote from polpolik:

hey guys, I trade the currency futures instead of trading the underlying pairs directly. How do you guys do your taxes? just curious. I don't have any plans to trade forex though using IB - their interface sucks.

I have done the Oanda FXGame and I love their interface, everything is so fluid and well thought out.

At any rate, profits on Forex trades are counted as interests and income, not the typical Sched D investment, right?

Correct, forget Sch. D. Filing US personal income taxes for spot / cash forex trading could not be easier, as long as you bring yourself up to speed first on the key issues involved. Preferably before making your first forex trade.

http://www.greencompany.com/EducationCenter/GTTRecCurrency.shtml#futuresmag

You'll also want to keep good records in a spreadsheet or a personal finance program, from day one. Cumulative P&L, deposits, withdrawals, interest, separately for each year. Your dealer will typically not do it for you, except for interest... and even if they did, I wouldn't trust their year-end numbers, unverified.

 

[late apex]

Quote from Ivanovich:

Not a futures player. Can you clarify what is interesting?

Normally there is a negative intraday correlation between US stock index futures and EUR/USD (or Euro-FX futures, same thing in this context). Further evidence of temporary insanity today...

 

[taodr]

Yes, expecting it to change shortly.

 

[polpolik]

thanks apex. Not sure if I'm up to the task as far as recording trades I'm too lazy. Of course, I guess most forex traders are more long term than futures daytraders.

 

[late apex]

Actually, no need to record individual forex trades for tax purposes (although can be extremely useful for other reasons, e.g., your own review, but, hey, let us not digress...). That's the beauty of it. Save online monthly or longer statements, showing all your trades, as computer files, just in case you ever get audited. Keep track of the change in account value however often you want -- say, monthly -- net of withdrawals and deposits, if any. After year-end, take the total annual change in value and net out the interest from the dealer's 1099-INT form:

Net gain/loss = ending value - beginning value + withdrawals - deposits - interest

That's your net gain/loss from forex transactions to report for the year. That's it... you're done with taxes, forex-wise.

But please study that link carefully for key issues to be aware of and certain simple action steps to take now, depending on whether you expect a gain or a loss from your forex trading.

 

[polpolik]

gotcha. definitely a lot simpler than having to show those stackes of stupid schedule D and worksheets.

I'll have to look into that. thanks!