Andrew, I'll do my best here based on what I experienced selling covered calls:
- When entering transaction type, select "stock (non-employee)" or "options."
- When it asks you how you obtained the option, select "I purchased it" (even though this is not true). For the purchase date, include the date it expired (if it expired) and the date you bought to close (if you bought to close).
- When it asks you how you disposed of the option, select "I sold it" (even if this is not true). When it asks the sale date include the initial sale date (when you opened the contract).
- Note that the above dates will be out of chronological order. This did not throw an error when I did it this way.
- When it asks for your cost basis, say "0." I know, there is no cost basis for cash secured puts. Say 0 anyway. (However, if you bought it to close then put this value there instead. ) The UI will ask you to confirm that your basis is really zero. Do so.
Please note: the above is all me guessing based on my experience with covered calls. And what was successfully auto-imported from Schwab (which didn't have the same issue with covered calls as E*Trade; see my other recent post on this page). Hope this helps.
