@fanfareThanks for the reply.
Yeah, the 1099-B says "long" in Box 2 and under "Form 8949 Notes" it says "D" (it's not the most clear 1099-B I've ever seen).
Part of why I'm hesitating about how to fill that out is that when TurboTax walks you through things, it asks specifically if you bought the securities in question or inherited them, which I'm not sure has an obvious answer in this situation.
First, because these ETF shares are held in a trust account (where both of my parents have always been the beneficiaries), I'm not sure if technically my mother inherited them from my father and that's why she gets the step up in cost basis (even though really she always owned the securities as much as my father did). Second, I think originally my father inherited the shares from his father, so technically I don't think my parents did actually buy the shares themselves, as TurboTax asks.
But, all that said, it doesn't seem like this is why one is concerned about whether or not one inherited the shares. As you point out, it's entirely for the long term treatment (and I guess to explain the step up in cost basis?). All of which is accurately stated already on the 1099-B.
I just don't want to do something that's going to look weird to the IRS. But would it look more normal to just go ahead in put "inherited" or would it look more normal to just follow the 1099-B exactly (even though the date acquired is a month before the date sold, but they are long term shares)?
So for these reasons, I hesitate whether I'm supposed to label the shares inhertited and ignore the date acquired in Box 1B on the 1099-B. Or whether it's would be better to just follow what's on the 1099-B exactly, since that's what was reported to the IRS and it is accurate, as far as the cost basis is conerned and the specifiying of these being long term held shares and that box D should be checked.
