How to Convert IB's Form 8949 CSV File Into an TXF File? No TXF File Available for Download.

C

Cyrix

When I tried to download the TXF file for Form 8949, I received an error message “The worksheet which IB prepares to assist with completing Form 8949 is compiled in an IRS compliant format and may contain transactions having IRS gain/loss adjustment codes which TurboTax does not support."

There is no TXF file for download. The CSV file, however, is available.

I have tens of thousand of transactions in 2019 which makes manually inputting them into Turbotax impossible.

Is there a way to convert the CSV file into a TXF file so that I can import it into Turbotax?

Thanks!
 
I would not trust EasyTXF. Look on their site, the CSV input format they want completely omits the adjustment code that IB provides:

C1n3zLv.png


Anyway, I've compared EasyTXF with a paid ($5) alternative that has clearly had much more thought put into it - InvestoTek Excel2TXF.

The good news is that the output has been almost functionally identical for my ~500 trades:
  • EasyTXF trims one insignificant zero decimal ($123.40 -> $123.4). I've corrected that manually.
  • Excel2TXF keeps a what I think is an invalid "sh" (short for "shares") designation in the P field:
    1R1Gc4q.png
The bad news is that they generated different codes for those three transactions. EasyTXF returned N323, while Excel2TXF returned 321. This is the CSV:

Data,3 sh MNTPX 13SEP19,VARIOUS,07/25/2019,"43,534.70","43,588.07",W,61.66,8.29,
Data,3 sh MNTPX 13SEP19,VARIOUS,07/26/2019,"43,281.98","43,489.58",BW,213.58,5.98,
Data,3 sh MNTPX 13SEP19,VARIOUS,07/30/2019,"43,433.38","43,497.52",BW,70.12,5.98,​

According to this IB article,
  • W stands for "nondeductible loss from a wash sale"
  • B stands for "The basis reported on box 3 of Form 1099-B requires clarification"
Since W is supported by TurboTax, I don't know why they'd generate different TXF codes for that first line.

And the worst news is that neither software warned at all about the elephant in the room - codes that TurboTax doesn't support. I have about 20 "B" codes in my CSV, which IB says TurboTax doesn't support. The very reason IB no longer supplies .TXF files for some traders. This is the message I got when I attempted to download the TXF:

"The worksheet which IB prepares to assist with completing Form 8949 is compiled in an IRS compliant format and may contain transactions having IRS gain/loss adjustment codes which TurboTax does not support. As proper transaction coding is essential to the filing of a true and complete Form 8949, TXF file export is not provided in those instances where the file contains a code which TurboTax doesn't allow to be imported. In those instances, a file download error message will appear and an alternative TurboTax supported method may be used. Please refer to KB2026 for additional details."​

I haven't tried TXF Creator yet, but it doesn't look any better. About as old as the others (2009 copyright year, Windows XP screenshots), and no mentions of current IB/TurboTax versions.

Has anyone checked with their tax professional about this?
 
Last edited:
I asked the author of Excel2TXF about this. He said, "N321 is Box A, Short-Term. N323 is Box D, Long-Term. From your file, everything should be N321."

So as I suspected, EasyTXF is wrong. Be careful out there.
 
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