How do I know if I sold ESPP, RS, RSU or NQSO on form 1099-B?

[inmate139]

TurboTax wants to know if sales on 1099-B include any employee stock (this includes ESPP, RSU, RS, NQSO, and ISO according to them).

[AamilD]

It depends. Did you get 1099-B from a brokerage company because you traded stocks, options, or other securities or did you get 1099-B because you own/have options to purchase stocks of the company you are employed with?

All the categories which you mentioned are related to stocks/stock options which your employer has provided for you. For example ESPP is employee stock purchase plan where you buy your company stocks at a discounted price. So if you did that you would know that the 1099-B which you received is related to ESPP.

However, if you traded stocks/options of different securities via your brokerage and those are not your company stocks, then you will mark that question as a NO since its not related to your company.

[inmate139]

Thanks so much AamilD; your answer was very helpful (much more than what TurboTax provided).  Thanks again!  

[csbatla]

Sorry, Still I can't figure out if I sold stocks or ESPP or RSU of my company, how can I figure it out from 1099-b.

[GeorgeM777]

Your 1099-B will probably not reflect whether the shares were RSUs or those purchased through an ESPP.  Did you get a Form 3921 from your company?  You should have received this form because your employer (or transfer agent) transferred your employer’s stock to you pursuant to your exercise of an incentive stock option (ISO).   While you do not have to file Form 3921 with your tax return, it will help you in preparing your tax return because it will contain relevant information.

If you purchased shares of stock in your company through an ESPP, you would have probably done so on a quarterly basis.  That is, your employer would have withheld some of your funds each pay period, and then at the end of the quarter, used those funds to purchase shares. Therefore, check your paystubs.  Do you see anything on your paystub indicating that funds were withheld in order to purchase company stock.

RSUs would likely be reported on your W-2.  Check box 14 on your W-2.  Many times employers will use box 14 on the W-2 to enter RSU compensation.  

Lastly, you can check with your company's personnel department.

@csbatla

[csbatla]

Thank you, I was able to file using supplemental doc.

[lostmonster]

I found this thread via google, trying to answer the above question. 

However, I know the difference between ESPP and RSU. 

My problem is that the 1099 form doesnt (clearly) specify the kind of stock for each listed sale. So when I am doing my taxes in turbo tax, and it asks, "what kind of stock is this sale?," I cannot answer easily.

Not only does the form not (clearly) specify, but also e-trade (in my case) itself doesn't (clearly) specify. 

Is there a demarcation, or some kind of organization method, on form 1099 that distinguishes ESPP sales from RSU sales? 

[GeorgeM777]

No, it's unlikely that your 1099-B will separate ESPPs transactions from RSUs, or identify them as such.  However, if you work for a publicly traded company that offers an ESPP, you have to formally elect to be part of such plan.  RSUs are a form of compensation that a publicly traded company offers to employees.  In both instances, ESPP and RSU, you will acquire/own shares of your company.  So, if you see sales of your company's stock on your 1099-B, you could further research those sales to confirm whether they represent shares you purchased through an ESPP or shares that the company gave you as RSUs.

Moreover, RSUs, because they are a form of compensation, the value of such will typically be entered in box 14 on your W-2. 

@lostmonster

[betsyjorg]

Did you ever get this figured out? Going through this same thing right now...

[ThomasM125]

Employee stock purchase plans (ESPP),  restricted stock units (RSU) and awards (RSA), non-qualified stock options (NQSO) and incentive stock options (ISO) would all involve the sale of stock of a company you worked for. So, if you see the sale of such stock listed on your Form 1099-B and you didn't acquire stock in your company outside of your employment, then the stock listed on your Form 1099-B is one of the above.

It may not be identified on your Form 1099-B as to what type of company stock you sold. However, there should be a website available through your employer where you can research what type of stock you acquired, when it was purchased, when it was sold and the associated dollar amounts.  Also, you would have been notified when you participated in the acquisition of the shares what plan you were involved with. So, some research on your part through your company should allow you to determine what type of employee stock is listed on your Form 1099-B. @betsyjorg 

[ThyleUllar]

If, like me, you sold both ESPP and RSU shares last year, then the only semi-helpful sentence in all the answers above was: “you’ll need to do some digging.”

For E*Trade, I had to go to my account, then orders, select last year, and filter by ‘Executed.’  Then, I was able to see which ones were RSU and which were ESPP. 

[docross]

Agreed, the above explanations were very long winded ways of saying "you'll have to dig through your sales individually on your broker's website, good luck".

[ThomasM125]

Employee stock would include stock acquired through an employee stock purchase plans (ESPP), stock awarded to an employee as restricted stock units (RSU's), acquired at a discount through an employee incentive (ISO's) or non-qualified stock options (NQSO). If you acquired stock in the company you work for at a discount or for free, it would be employee stock, so if any such stock is listed on your Form 1099-B, you would indicate that in TurboTax. 

[amvivaldi]

Hi ThomasM125.  I have a follow-up question on how to enter the sale of these owned types of employer stock into Turbotax Premier.  The 1099-B I received reports a single entry (non-covered of course, with nothing beyond the date of sale, the total number of shares sold, and the net total proceeds) for a stock sale that included several lots of ESPP, a few ISOs, and an RSU.  Here are the issues:

- I did not receive any additional supporting documentation delineating the splits and there is no possibility to request them as these assets have bounced through several financial institutions.

- Turbotax immediately inquires about 1099-B entries which are at the total value but wants to associate that with only one of the categories (ESPP, ISO, or RSU).  Those two entries are not compatible.  So, it is obvious that I cannot enter at the combined total level.

- Since Turbotax insists on having entries for 1099-B provided fields, I cannot create individual sales for each of the (24) original transactions and match the entry on the 1099-B as it does not allow me to "indent" and then sum all associated with that stock.  So, the entries for the number of shares and proceeds would not match unless there is a way to total them or leave that exercise (fun?) to the IRS. 

What do you suggest?

As an aside, could I combine the (18) ESPP transactions (which occurred quarterly BTW) into one with an entry of "various" for the date?

Any help you (or anyone) could provide would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

- 

[RobertB4444]

I would indeed combine the entries and then send the 1099-B to the IRS and let them sort the mess out.  If you have made your good faith effort to break the transaction up as much as you are able to do and pay the taxes owed on what you have come up with then you have done what you can and if they have an argument let them make it.

You can combine the 18 ESPP dates with a 'various' purchase date.  That's what I would do.

@amvivaldi