Well, it's a "broker" that issues 1099-B's because the brokerage firm really sold the stock for you.
But, actually, it doesn't matter what name you use if you're entering your sales manually because there's absolutely no "broker/bank" identification that's included in the income tax return. All security sales show up with the same basic information of
- Description of what was sold
- Date of sale
- Proceeds
- Date of acquisition
- Basis
The financial institution name is strictly for your use and utility. So, for example, if you executed trades through 5 different brokerage firms and wanted to go back and edit or change a particular trade, you can quickly select what broker executed the trade.
Tom Young
