Not trying to belittle. Just suggesting that the OP is likely smart enough to do his own taxes. Especially if they are futures. It is glaringly obvious that his accountant is insanely unqualified to be handing out advice and is going to cost him serious amounts of money. I mean really... I quick google search would've taught the CPA everything he needed to know about futures tax in about 5 minutes.
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Is it too late to qualify for 60/40 taxes??
- Thread starter cml2949
- Start date
Not trying to belittle. Just suggesting that the OP is likely smart enough to do his own taxes. Especially if they are futures. It is glaringly obvious that his accountant is insanely unqualified to be handing out advice and is going to cost him serious amounts of money. I mean really... I quick google search would've taught the CPA everything he needed to know about futures tax in about 5 minutes.
Okay , the CPA got an answer back to me ..
From what I understand..
If you have an open futures position in 2010 than you can file form 6781 and chose marked to market and recieve the 60/40 treatment.
However, if you have closed futures positions in 2010 than you have to of made the election in 2010 to recieve the 60/40 treatment for 2010.
Therefore, we are making the election with this tax return so when taxes come around next year , it will be done at 60/40..
From what I understand..
If you have an open futures position in 2010 than you can file form 6781 and chose marked to market and recieve the 60/40 treatment.
However, if you have closed futures positions in 2010 than you have to of made the election in 2010 to recieve the 60/40 treatment for 2010.
Therefore, we are making the election with this tax return so when taxes come around next year , it will be done at 60/40..
Quote from Epic:
Not trying to belittle. Just suggesting that the OP is likely smart enough to do his own taxes. Especially if they are futures. It is glaringly obvious that his accountant is insanely unqualified to be handing out advice and is going to cost him serious amounts of money. I mean really... I quick google search would've taught the CPA everything he needed to know about futures tax in about 5 minutes.
get a new cpa.Quote from cml2949:
Okay , the CPA got an answer back to me ..
From what I understand..
If you have an open futures position in 2010 than you can file form 6781 and chose marked to market and recieve the 60/40 treatment.
However, if you have closed futures positions in 2010 than you have to of made the election in 2010 to recieve the 60/40 treatment for 2010.
Therefore, we are making the election with this tax return so when taxes come around next year , it will be done at 60/40..
'made the election' is the key words , he is confused of various things that sound the same. In this case you dont 'made the election' you just file.Quote from cml2949:
..
However, if you have closed futures positions in 2010 than you have to of made the election in 2010 to recieve the 60/40 treatment for 2010.
...
Quote from Epic:
If all you ever do is trade futures then you should be smart enough to do your own taxes. Taxes on futures trades are the easiest out there. If you aren't smart enough to do them yourself then quit trading because you aren't smart enough to make money.
Your CPA is not only not qualified to do your trading taxes but I would question whether he is qualified to be doing taxes at all. If you don't break ties with him then you aren't very smart.
Strip-mall H&R block != CPA
not to mention that the only thing CPAs should be used for is when the IRS calls, and believe me, even if you are 100% above-board the IRS will call you in some day.
You need to understand enough to do your own taxes and maybe have a CPA sign them.
Quote from krazykarl:
..
not to mention that the only thing CPAs should be used for is when the IRS calls, ...
...
actually when IRS called I called 4 diff CPAs in panic willing to hand over 40K (1/2 of what IRS said I owned them) only 1 sent me a short reply 'we don't handle that situation'.
Quote from cml2949:
Okay , the CPA got an answer back to me ..
From what I understand..
If you have an open futures position in 2010 than you can file form 6781 and chose marked to market and recieve the 60/40 treatment.
However, if you have closed futures positions in 2010 than you have to of made the election in 2010 to recieve the 60/40 treatment for 2010.
Therefore, we are making the election with this tax return so when taxes come around next year , it will be done at 60/40..
Seriously!!!!! GET A NEW CPA!!!!!
Your CPA doesn't have a clue!. He is confusing several different trading tax issues and he is going to cost you a lot of money through his ignorance.
You don't need to make any election to get 60/40 tax treatment on futures contracts. They are 1256 contracts by definition. Thus, they are all marked-to-market at year end regardless of whether or not they are still open.
Your CPA is confusing 1256 contracts with electing mark-to-market taxation. They are completely different issues and he would know this after a 5 minute google search. His incompetence is going to cost you a ton of money, and it is not your job to educate him. again... GET A NEW CPA!!!!!
Quote from nkhoi:
actually when IRS called I called 4 diff CPAs in panic willing to hand over 40K (1/2 of what IRS said I owned them) only 1 sent me a short reply 'we don't handle that situation'.
Bingo!!! You'll have a tough time trying to get a CPA to bail you out. The CPA also doesn't really carry any of the liability anyway. Do your own taxes, cause the accountability falls on your own shoulders anyway.