@j g Partner, I am TOTALLY there with you on this. Bought ETHE and GBTC last year and I feel lucky compared to you as I "only" have 80 "items" to review. I have spread the pain out over the last week to avoid a stroke but wow is this ridiculous. Literally makes me want to sell GBTC and ETHE at the earliest possible convenience if ONLY not to have to go through this tax return pain. I am tempted to take a loss just to get out of it. I simply don't understand how this can be OK for a 1099 to have this much stuff on it for expense. Sometimes only $.01 at a time. It is absolutely punitive to their shareholders. Grayscale really needs to address this somehow.
So what I have researched so far this is because it is an "uncovered" security where they don't have to report the details to the IRS. I found one post that explained how he handled the "cost basis factor" on the 1099. I could paste here but it would be ugly. It really didn't help as my cost basis was, for example, on proceeds of $1.70 (wow, massive amount, right?) only $.01. So literally it seems to make absolutely no difference on your taxes if you spend the time calculating your cost basis for each of these 80 transactions. So I personally am just entering $0 cost and moving on. It probably will make literally no difference in my taxes. I just have to spend the next two hours just filling in meaningless boxes. Also, TurboTax on box 1b it has a drop down to say "date" or "something other than a date". In this case it is NOT a date. I select "other than a date" and it gives a dropdown for "blank" but you can't select it. "Learn more" literally says "If you don't have a single date listed in Box 1b of your 1099-B, you can select Something other than a date. After you select this, you can choose from two options: Blank or Various (or more than one date)." You CANNOT select blank. So either you use "The date this investment was acquired" which I do not have or "Something other than a date" and select "Various". I am selecting date investment was acquired since all my acquisition dates are short term anyway and I think that is all it really is getting at. Absolutely maddening!! Taxes really don't need to and shouldn't be this complicated. Anyway, I really hope this helps someone in some way! Deep breaths, chill, enjoy the Spring sounds, and get some fresh air and it will all be over at some point 🙂
