1099-B doesn't support negative value in box 1d

To be able to post a negative value to form 1099-B box 1d follow these steps.

1. Select the option for a 1099-B
2. Select to type it yourself
3. Enter Bank
4. I'll enter one sale at a time
5. Enter the stock data and leave 10d BLANK
6. When you hit Continue you will get a RED error message
7. At the bottom of the screen select Allow me to continue with incomplete information. [Continue]
8. Any less common items will be blank.  Select Done
9. No this is not employee stock
10. Select the last item An adjustment is required for reasons not already covered.
11. Enter the negative number that you had in Box 1d.
12. This will complete the transaction.

Hello, 

Thanks for the reply. However, what you suggested to manually enter the negative entries does not work (CD windows version). You still get "error: Value must be equal to or greater than zero."

And even if it does work, this would not be an acceptable solution since I have over 100+ Entries. 

This is a software bug that it does not accept negative number. Can you please forward to TTX software development team to have this corrected ? 

Thank-you.

I have the same issue. I have two forms with more than 200 entries from TD. Why should I do manual entry when I pay for automated software with premium price? TT folks, you have to fix this or do manual entry for us. Ridiculous service.

the problem is not Turbo Tax it's your broker reporting negative proceeds.   if the amount in 1d represents proceeds it should be positive. if it's cost then it's in the wrong box and then proceeds would be in 1e which is also the wrong box.   even a short sale should report proceeds as positive in 1d.  the other possibility is that if the actual 1099-B shows positive proceeds your broker didn't follow the instructions that Turbo Tax gave them for formatting the numbers for transmission.   if the problem was at Turbo Tax's end everyone who imported from their broker would be reporting this problem. I've only seen a couple of complaints about this. I did not have this problem. 

If the TD’s 1099-B format is wrong, why your expert has given instructions to enter negative data in box 1d manually to ignore the error for each proceeds? It has to be corrected in the TTX software.

Every year I used to have the same format having negative numbers for short sale in box 1d. Only problem is happening this year with TTX

The negative proceeds (line 1d) from TD Ameritrade are for Short closing positions that resulted in a net loss.  I went back to last year (2019)'s 1098B from TD, for these entries, it also has a negative entries. But last year, Turbo Tax did not have trouble importing them. So some thing is not working the same in this year's TTX.

Turbo tax does not allow negative numbers in 1099-B box 1d

Some brokers  now reports losses of short options on 1099B as a negative number for proceeds in box 1d and a zero value for cost basis, rather than separate values for cost basis and proceeds that show a loss. 

The broker explanation is: "We are now updating our reporting of short options on the 1099-B to reflect how the IRS is now requesting that these transactions be reported.  In this new format, the cost basis and proceeds for short options is consolidated into Box 1d in a net amount."

To be able to post a negative value to form 1099-B box 1d follow these steps.

1. Select the option for a 1099-B
2. Select to type it yourself

1. Enter Bank
2. I'll enter one sale at a time

1. Enter the stock data and leave 10d BLANK
2. When you hit Continue you will get a RED error message
3. At the bottom of the screen select Allow me to continue with incomplete information. [Continue]
4. Any less common items will be blank.  Select Done

1. No this is not employee stock

1. Select the last item An adjustment is required for reasons not already covered.
2. Enter the negative number that you had in Box 1d.
3. This will complete the transaction.

From <https://turbotax.response.lithium.com/console/agent/5784093?>

Hi John, 

Thanks for the replies, really appreciate it. I tried using your manual workaround three times now but still can't enter negative values manually.  I keep getting the following pop up message: "The value entered must be equal to or greater than 0.00" . 

Even tried using parentheses to start the negative number (wouldn't take).  I am using window's desktop version of TTX home/business.  Not sure why this doesn't work for me. Is it because it is a desktop version. Any thoughts ?

Thanks, Kim

You cannot enter a negative number in either the cost basis or proceeds fields.

The IRS (and TurboTax) will not accept negative numbers in either the cost basis or proceeds fields. You will have to manually edit any imported negative entries in order to proceed with e return and e-file.

Starting with the 2020 tax returns, the IRS will reject any return filed with a negative number reported in the proceeds or cost basis fields for Schedule D. TurboTax is flagging these situations ahead of time before the return is filed in order to prevent the IRS rejection. Some brokers are still using the old convention for reporting negative values and have not updated their reports to match the IRS.   
  
The error message reported by TurboTax is telling you that the number entered cannot be negative. 
  
Gains from expired options are reported by entering the gain amount in the proceeds column and no amount in the cost basis column. This will result in a gain.
  
Losses from expired options are reported by entering the loss amount as a positive number in the cost basis column and no amount in the proceeds column. The end result here would be a loss.
  
 No negative numbers should be entered in either the cost basis or proceeds fields.   
  
If negative numbers have been imported through your brokerage statement, you will need to edit the entries to make the correction. 

Thanks ToddL99,

After two hours of trying to get help on the phone, and the absurd online chat asst, I finally ran into this help blog.  Your solution works - e.g. no negative numbers in basis or proceeds, and simply list the loss amount as basis, and proceeds as zero, will get you the loss in the correct column on Sched D.   And yes, the brokers aren't doing us any favors here, either is TT, but at least there is a workaround.

Finally, an explanation and solution that makes sense!  Thank you!  

Hi, ToddL99:

Other forums are showing that this is a Turbo Tax error. Can you share where you saw “ Starting from 2020, IRS will reject (no longer allow) negative proceeds..... My situation is I first sold naked puts and bought it back later for a loss (paid more than what I initial sold it for). TD Ameritrade is showing a zero cost basis and a negative proceeds. No problem for previous years. Thanks much if you could elaborate 

Here is what worked for me.  First I imported the data from my TD Ameritrade 1099B.  Wherever there was a negative value for the proceeds in the box 1d, I entered that same value as a positive number in the cost basis box 1e and in the proceeds box 1d I entered 0.  A blank in 1d might also work.  This way the gain is still negative or correct as it was before or should be.  The overall total for gain/loss is the same as before, but now when doing the smart check, everything works out error free.

Yes this is manual, but it only means changing two boxes per transaction.  I had to change 26 entries, about 15 min work.  I have not seen any other instructions on this board work.  I hope this helps. 

Yes, TD Ameritrade should change their form to avoid negative proceeds and TurboTax should be smart enough to recognize this error and deal with it.

Hi, Vicmyers:

What I worried (from other forums) is what is in the IRS database is what the brokers sent which shows negative proceeds and zero costs. So while getting through Turbo Tax , you get a error notice or an audit from IRS because what you input in TurboTax is different from what they have.

many people are still waiting for Turbo Tax to fix the problem - allowing the negatives to go through 

thanks

I have over 56 pages in my 1099-B with many vertical spreads and short option legs that report negative proceeds. Manually changes the negative proceeds values is not an optimal solution. Will someone from TT confirm if there is a bug reported against this and when to expect it may be resolved?

Having the same issue. I understand the fix by flipping the cost basis and proceeds but that is not what happened so doesnt seem right to fix it just to accomodate a bad software issue. Please fix and let us know when we can submit. 

I agree with you. Turbo Tax should fix this, if the broker, TD Ameritrade, in my case cannot.  But who knows how long it will take for Turbo Tax to address this.  In my case, the manual fix allows the final error check to pass and to allow tax filing.   And the G/L numbers are accurate.

After calling technical help at TurboTax and waiting over an hour to reach someone, I am very disappointed in the service.  The person could not help, could not even promise to pass on the problem to software development, urged me to purchase TurboTax live so that I could talk to a CPA.  And I thought I had decent ability to get help with a TurboTax Advantage account.  Mention was made of talking to an "expert", but the person on the call could not tell me where to find the option for that on the website.  They did not even seem to be aware that the problem existed.  The community forum  seems to be only place to get any help aside from the very basic stuff.

The only reason for staying with Turbo Tax is the fact that my tax history gets carried over from one year to the next.  Does anyone know how easy or difficult it is to migrate to another tax service and be able to bring along one's tax history?

The issue is with TurboTax software and they are suggesting to fix it by manual editing each entry. This is completely ridiculous service for the premium service fees they are charging. I fixed it all 200+ entries by myself and had to expend more than 2 hours for that and verifying it manually. I expect some rebate in the fees that I paid for automated software.

Thanks for the reply.

I opened a case with TD Ameritrade and according to their tax department, they have not been told by IRS to not use negative Proceeds for 2020 taxes.  If this is the case, it would help if you can provide documentation or Communications from IRS stating they will reject returns with negative Proceeds. This will help us convince the brokers that they are incorrect as it appears from the forum that  more than one broker is doing this (Fidelity as well). We are being put in the middle of this situation where we are asked by Intuit to manual modify the entries, running the risk of an audit because doing so, the total Proceeds will be different than what is reported by the 1099B.  As you mentioned, the Brokers have used negative Proceeds last year.  Hopefully Intuit is working with them to correct this for tax year 2020 as this seems to be a wide spread issue.  And if Intuit is not working with the Brokers, at least give us the documentations so that we can go back to the Brokers to convince them ourselves. If IRS told Intuit that returns will be rejected with negative Proceeds, Intuit must have documentation on this. Currently, the instructions for 1099B clearly states that negative numbers can be entered via parentheses as well. Please share the communication with IRS.

Thanks

Kim

I took the advice of the TT experts here and set 1d to 0 and negative proceeds as a positive basis. This worked and gain / loss did stayed the same. Did I just set myself up for a letter from the IRS due to reported 1099-b proceeds and basis not matching? If this is the case then customers should be warned that the suggested change will trigger an audit. We now have three brokerages that are reporting negative proceeds on 1099-b. What has to be done if it turns out the TT fixes it on the software side? Would i just amend the return using the original 1099-b unmodified values?

I took the advice of the TT experts here and set 1d to 0 and negative proceeds as a positive basis. This worked and gain / loss did stayed the same. Did I just set myself up for a letter from the IRS due to reported 1099-b proceeds and basis not matching? If this is the case then customers should be warned that the suggested change will trigger an audit. We now have three brokerages that are reporting negative proceeds on 1099-b. What has to be done if it turns out that TT fixes it on the software side? Would i just amend the return using the original 1099-b unmodified values?

I too am modifying these values manually. Is there a more efficient way? I'm using TT online and have to go through each page of entries. There are 24 pages and navigating through the browser is painful. Why can't I go directly to a form to make these manual adjustments. Each entry I need to modify takes approx 2 minutes from start to finish using the online program. With approx 96 entries needing modifications this is going to take a long time.

@ToddL99 

So, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and E*TRADE all report these negative values, which seems to be in accordance with the latest 1099-B instructions (linked below)...methinks this is a TurboTax issue.  No work-around by TT clients should be required.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099b.pdf

“Box 1d. Proceeds
Enter the gross cash proceeds from all dispositions (including short sales) of securities, commodities, options, securities futures contracts, or forward contracts. Show a loss, such as one from a closing transaction on a written option or forward contract, as a negative amount by enclosing it in parentheses.”