Quote from rwk:
In previous years, *all* transactions were uncovered, but we still had to identify wash sale adjustments and dig out the cost basis for each affected trade. I don't see that this year will be much more work. It's just different, and understanding the requirements will take some time, patience, and peace of mind. The biggest problem at this point is that we don't yet have the Form 8949.
Can you or anyone else just clarify this for me please and this is not IB specific since everyone is going through the same thing. I actually use ML because I get so many free trades a quarter.
So the 1099's are out. For the section 1099-B, there are three new "covered" sections for both short/long term and short sales. In addition, there is one other section called "noncovered" which would entail anything from derivatives, bonds, ETFs, etc.
Anything in the covered section, does have both the proceeds and the cost basis right there in the 1099 report. All you have to do is basically type it in to your tax software.
For the non-covered section, it would be business as usual, like in previous years. You must calculate and document that basis cost number yourself.
The new tax software that I have taken a peak at has also been tweaked to accommodate these changes. In other words, when you key in each transaction into the tax software, it will ask you if it is covered or non-covered and if the basis was reported to the IRS or not. If you check non-covered, and the basis was not reported, you will be able to key in your cost basis for that particular transaction.
The final tax software output for schedule D will end up including form 8949 and each page will be labeled, i.e. short term capital gain and loss, etc. with a header that has a check mark next to the section that says the basis was reported to the IRS, the basis was not reported to the IRS, neither can be check marked.
So with all this being said, what are you guys talking about that you are waiting for March 1st for on the 8949 forms from your broker -- is this because you have thousands of trades and looking for a consolidated single number? Because I believe anything in the noncovered section will still not have basis reported, is this not correct ? What is the deal on this?
Other than that, it appeared as if you only have a few dozen trades on the year or say even a hundred and don't mind typing them in to your tax software that can formulate the form 8949, it seems like this is something you could handle right now or not? Thanks in advance for any input.