I'm have not made a 475f election. Before using Turbotax I did my taxes by hand. The previous times I ran in to this situation I used the following guidelines:
The instructions for Form 8949 direct you to enter the description of property, which can be your stock's ticker symbol, in Column A of Part 1 on the first page of the form. Leave Column B (date acquired) blank, because you have sold, but not yet acquired, the stock. Column C holds the date you sold the shares. Column D is where you'll enter the total sales proceeds.
Column E is for reporting cost or other basis. Leave Columns F and G blank (adjustment to your gain or loss and its associated code) because you have not yet completed this transaction. Subtract the amount in Column E from the amount in Column D and enter this amount in Column H.
You should have received a Form 1099-B reporting gross proceeds from the short sale for the year you opened the short sale. To balance it out leave the blank entry on the main form and select The cost basis is incorrect or missing on my 1099-B and enter the proceeds number as the cost basis. This will zero out the transaction.
The problem is Turbotax does not accept these entries.
