despite Vanguard's statement about the use of document IDs, they are only used for brokerage accounts and not fund accounts. I have 2 fund accounts, but thought one was a brokerage account, therefore the problem. when I imported the 1099s for a fund account, I used my regular login and it worked fine. I've suggested their statement about offering document IDs distinguish the investments to which it applies.
Thanks for your reply which inspired me to determine why I had this problem.
Rich
