"One last question if I don't use the RSA/RSU interview will the compensation income tax from these still be figured into the total return."
Yes, of course it will because it's already included on your W-2. One of the "legitimate" reason to use the RSA/RSU guided interview is if the compensation income wasn't included in your W-2. After using the RSA/RSU guided interview, you continue on the very end of the "Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other" interview. On the very last page of that interview - a page titled "Your Employee Stock Plan Results - TurboTax shows you the amount of compensation it has calculated and asks you if it's on your W-2. If you say "No" TurboTax makes an entry on your income tax return for the "missing" compensation. If you say "Yes" TurboTax makes no entry because that compensation is already on your W-2.
"I know the taxes came out of my W2."
That raises an issue that we haven't talked about, and I don't know that I even want to go down this particular rabbit hole, but the issue is where did the cash for those taxes come from? In a "normal" RSA/RSU "same day sale" situation some of the shares in the grant are either withheld by the employer or are sold "for taxes" with that money being passed back to the employer. Of course that means that the employee doesn't deposit in their brokerage account the GROSS number of shares, only the NET number of shares ("after tax") but the compensation on the W-2 still reflects the GROSS number of shares. (This is exactly the same as a regular paycheck, you simply got paid "in shares" instead of "in cash.")
I assume this has all been properly handled?
LINE 1 trade:
"I did it using RSA/RSU worksheet, I know you said I didn't need to use this but I thought I needed to because I also had compensation income tax on these RSA / RSU's, which is in my W2. Line 1 shows a Capital loss of $2504.43"
This entry is clearly wrong since we know that "same day" sales typically result in a small loss due to selling commissions and fees. If there were no selling commissions and fees then the correct answer is a $0 result. The compensation issue is a red herring since it's already there on your W-2. If you use the RSA/RSU interview absolutely none of the "compensation" aspect of the sale shows up in the income tax return you send to the IRS. The trade itself on Form 8949 looks like any other sale of a security with a basis adjustment and there's no page included in the income tax return that says, in effect "I got compensation as a result of this transaction and here's how that compensation was calculated." DELETE THIS.
I'd go with the line 3 entry as it "ties" to the proceeds on the W-2, shows an "adjustment" from the basis reported on the 1099-B which is stylistically correct, and results in the correct answer. Delete everything you've done and go back through the "Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other" one last time to enter the trade accordingly. TurboTax will put an "O" in the code column, which is fine. (Realistically the codes are pretty meaningless. The IRS isn't going to come crashing down on you for a "wrong code" if your capital gain or loss is stated properly.)
