How do I go about filing form 8949 if I have over 10000 financial transactions? Printing the form would be more than 500 pages.

[idcmynamehii]

I went ahead and input a summary of my total capital gains/losses in Turbotax under 1099-B since my number of individual transactions exceeds the limit allowed by Turbotax.

There's a message showing below my summary however which seems to indicate that I'll need to mail form 8453 along with form 8949 (depicting every single one of my transactions individually) to the IRS since I chose to summarize on 1099-B.

If I have to print and mail form 8949 this way, it would be a minimum of 500 pages, if not 800+. Is this really necessary?

[TomYoung · Accepted solution]

You can send in a Form 8949 listing each and every trade or a substitute schedule that conforms to the Form 8949 in terms of reporting the required information.  I expect that if you look closely at your 1099-B you'll find that it would be a suitable substitute.  Mail in a copy of that.

Tom Young

[fanfare]

you only have to itemize on form 8949 those transactions with adjustments.

Depending on how many wash sales you got yourself into, this could be a simple matter of manual entry.

if you are an active investor you should be aware that Box A and Box D transactions with no adjustments do not have to be itemized on Form 8949. Thus there is no reason to import those transactions.

instead report subtotals on schedule d Line 1a  for A and Line 8a for D

If you have wash sales, it gets more complicated since those have to be itemized on Form 8949 and the summary totals adjusted accordingly

[psk]

The 1099-B statement we get is also 326 pages long. The broker just allows a pdf download. I can't understand why turbotax doesn't allow pdf attachments like TaxAct does? See below is the page index of my 1099-B from broker. Page 2-309 are 1099-b transactions. Or are you suggesting we only mail Page 1 which is summary of form 1099-B?

1099 Form or Tax Statement Section Starting Page Number

Summary of Form 1099-B   ...1

1099-INT Form: Interest Income   ...1

1099-DIV Form: Dividends and Distributions  ... 1

Summary of Form 1099-OID  ...1

1099-B Forms: Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions  ... 2

Short-Term Covered Transactions ...2

Dividends and Distributions (Details of Form 1099-DIV) ... 309 

Capital Gain Distributions (Details of Form 1099-DIV)  ...320

[psk]

I see other s/w like tax act have an option to attach pdf and I spoke with turbotax EA/cpa and support and they say there is no way to attach a pdf to return and have to manually send it in... Crazy stuff...

[fanfare]

there's no way to do it with TurboTax...
The other software supports PDF attachment only in the one scenario : code M on Form 8949.

[hopes2120]

@idcmynamehii 

Hello, I was wondering if you could please share the outcome of your scenario as I find myself in a similar case where the transactions are too many to be typed or automatically loaded into the 8949.

What was the outcome?

Did you have to mail all 500 to 800+ pages with an 8453?

Or did the IRS require you to go in a different route? 

Thank you in advance. Any information will be helpful.

[MarilynG1]

Click this link for info on conditions where you would mail in Form 8949. 

[hopes2120]

@MarilynG1 

Thank you. I understand the conditions as to when you have to mail the statements (when there are adjustments and summary format was used) but what I am looking to find out is what is done in his scenario where he had over 500 to 800+ pages in transactions with and without adjustments. Since the summary format was selected, one has to mail all 500 to 800+ pages with the 8453? 

In that sense, what in specific has to be mailed?:

   - All pages of 1099B (which was sent to the IRS by the broker)?

   - or all pages of Year-End Summary (not sent to IRS by the broker and has the same large number of transactions pages as the 1099B )

   - or both/1099B and Year-End Summary which is the entire tax package received from the broker? 

Any help will be appreciated.

[Irene2805]

Since you entered a summary of the stock transactions, include the following with transmittal Form 8453:

1. Form 8949; and
2. All pages of the 1099B.

You do not have to include the Year-End Summary.

@hopes2120

[fanfare]

the rule (clearly explained in IRS instructions) is :

a) covered transactions without adjustments do not require Form 8949.
b) covered transactions with adjustments (i.e. wash sales) must be detailed on 8949 or your other forms in the manner of 8949.
--
If you summarize a) no mailing is necessary.
If you summarize b) either attach (*) or mail in the details .
(*) some users report TurboTax may prompt you to attach a PDF file of details.
Box A and Box D are your covered transactions.

NOTE:

a) is the only Exception to the IRS requirement to list in detail every closing transaction you make during the year.

[fanfare]

contact IRS to find out if you can send details on electronic media, i.e. DVD.

I haven't seen any IRS info on this on the IRS website.

[fanfare]

best option:

use that other tax provider software that will definitely accept a PDF file.

You can even separate it into multiple part PDFs if your file is too huge.

You have to move to tax software that will handle your circumstances.

[hopes2120]

@fanfare 

Thank you!

[TuKatherine]

I am in the same predicament so I looked a bit deeper... I found on page 5 of the IRS' Instructions for Form 8949 (2020) which says:

"Stock acquired on various dates. If you
sold a block of stock (or similar property)
that you acquired through several different
purchases, you may report the sale on one
row and enter “VARIOUS” in column (b).
However, you still must report the
short-term gain or (loss) on the sale on
Part I and the long-term gain or (loss) on
Part II." 

I hope this helps.