One of my clients made one trade last year (profitable) and was trying to do his taxes with TurboTax. He says there wasn't an option to report earnings from futures. Just stocks, bonds, or funds. I've been googling around to see if there is another option for him but haven't found anything. Can he use TurboTax? Or will he need to see an accountant?
turbo tax for small trader
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I had the same issue a few years back when looking at TurboTax. At the time they did not support Form 1256 for futures.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f6781.pdf
I went with TaxAct instead.
Turbo doesn't query whether you have "futures" trading results to include. They ask if you trade "1256 contracts" in the Premier version.
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Same here, for sure 10 years for me.
IDK anything about Turbotax, but...
1) section 1256 futures contract gains/losses are reported on IRS Form 6781.
2) If you do not use form 6781 for reporting, the IRS smiles and says thank you as the tax advantages of section 1256 futures contracts are lost!!
1) section 1256 futures contract gains/losses are reported on IRS Form 6781.
2) If you do not use form 6781 for reporting, the IRS smiles and says thank you as the tax advantages of section 1256 futures contracts are lost!!
Do you have to itemize for 1256 to show up? That’s the only thing I can think of that would explain why he can’t find 1256.