I used the method described by nexchap in this thread last year, due to the fact that I had both long term and short term sales. This year I sold a couple of MLPs with all long term transactions. So I decided to try it out both ways. So I created two TT files, and processed one using the method described in this thread, and one using the standard interview process.
In the file using the standard interview process, the 8949 auto-generated by TT showed all of the MLP sales as ‘Short-term transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-B’. That flaw caused a major difference in taxes due to different tax rates used for Long Term Capital Gains vs. Short Term Capital Gains. But other than that difference, both results came out the same (within $1).
Just a heads up to everybody . . . If you don’t provide both a Purchase Date and a Sale Date in interview process (as opposed to typing 'Various' in the date field), TT will (on its own without telling you) assume that the sales fall into the category of ‘Short-term transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-B’.
Thanks for your help nexchap!
