I bought and sold some stocks (shares on Robinhood) and made some short term profit of $49. Do I pay taxes on that?

[Agrawal]

I bought and sold some stocks and made some short term profit of $49. Do I pay taxes on that? 

Reason is if I want to add this income I need to take Premium plan of TurboTax and filing fees will increase to more than the money I actually made in Stocks. This doesn't make sense. :( 

In other words: I made money in stocks so I can pay that profit money to file taxes of that income on turbotax...which make profit 0. 

[fanfare]

you need to up your game and make enough in the stock market to at least pay your income tax filing costs.

[Agrawal]

YEAH, I traded only for 2 months.. this year I am gonna make sufficient to cover the cost.

[maglib]

If you do not report it, the IRS will be looking for the 1099B and will send you a tax bill for the proceeds and assume no basis, so you do want to report it.

THERE IS ALSO TURBOTAX FREEDOM EDITION not to be confused with FREE edition.

To qualify for free 2017 federal and state tax returns in Freedom Edition, you'll need to meet one of these requirements:

·        Your 2017 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is $33,000 or less

·        You qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

·        In 2017, you served as active duty military (including Reservists and National Guard) with a maximum AGI of $66,000, and you have a military-issued W-2

Freedom Edition is available online at www.taxfreedom.com. Please note that the Freedom Edition website is NOT connected to the TurboTax.com website.

Also – don't confuse Freedom Edition with Free Edition at TurboTax.com. These similarly-named products are completely different. To switch to Freedom Edition FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS, read them carefully: https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3491786

[BobinCT]

Actually, since these were short term trades the IRS should know basis and purchase date.  Don't you think they would use that?

[maglib]

IRS just assumes proceeds are fully taxable income sadly. Often cost basis is erroneous and when preparing your return, you are attesting to the reported cost basis, hence why they do not utilize it.

[Markromanv]

Do you still have to pay taxes even when you don't actually pull the money out of the stocks?

[Critter-3]

Even if you do not take the money out of the account you must report all the sales and pay the taxes on the profits.