Hi, I am using Turbotax online with MFJ. My wife and I have the same brokerage company with different accounts. My RSU/ESPP sales in my 1099B all had blank federal income tax withheld (section 4), but for my wife's 1099B, she had all positive amount for that section for both RSU/ESPP sells and it appears to be a static withheld rate*the proceeds (1d). When reporting my wife's 1099B, do I need to put her withheld amounts in Box 4? The 'learn more' section says "You shouldn't include amounts here that were withheld due to an exercise or sale of employee stock". I wonder if that applies here or is it referring to the "sell to cover" amount that was initially withheld when the RSU was granted.
Also it seems weird that the federal tax withheld amount for RSU/ESPP seems to be the proceeds*set rate while mine is all blank ($0). I assume this is all set by the brokerage company? The former situation is interesting because if the stock sale amount is $10k and cost basis is $9k and the withhold rate is 25%, the withheld amount is $2.5k ($10k*25%), which would be much higher than the $1k gain*whatever tax rate. To me it makes more sense for the withheld to depend on the gain rather than the sell amount. Am I understanding this in the wrong way? Thank you in advance.
