Large number stock transaction: entering sales section totals

[PAGB]

Hi,

Turbotax advises to enter summery info of sections instead of each individual transaction when there are a large number of stock sales (the number of sales exceeds Turbotax limits so I have to do this manually),

My first question is:

Is there a limit of how many sales sections I can enter?

Second question:

I have more than one brokerage account, can Turbotax premier calculate the wash sale correctly across multiple accounts?

Thank you very much for your help

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How to enter a summary in lieu of individual transactions

Your brokerage statements should include a summary of your transactions, grouped by sales category, for example, "Box A short-term covered" or "Box D long-term covered." You'll enter the summary info instead of each individual transaction.

1. Open or continue your return (if it's not already open) and search for stock sales.
2. Select the Jump to link in the search results.
3. Answer Yes to Did you sell stocks, mutual funds, bonds, or other investments in 2020?.
   • If you land on Your investment sales summary, select Add more sales. 
4. On the OK, what type of investments did you sell? screen, select Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, then Continue.
5. When asked how you want to enter your 1099-B, select I'll type it myself.
6. Answer the questions until you can select Enter sales section totals.
7. You'll now be able to enter the total proceeds (sales) and cost basis, along with the sales category. Refer to your 1099-B for the amounts and category. When finished, select Continue.

[DianeW777]

The limit for the number of transactions you can enter in TurboTax can be found here.

Yes, if the wash sales are entered correctly TurboTax will calculate then correctly.  For your information I will list some of the details about wash sales below.

Wash Sale Rule Defined:

• A wash sale occurs when an investor sells or trades a security at a loss, and within 30 days before or after, buys another one that is substantially similar.
• It also happens if the individual sells the security at a loss, and their spouse or a company they control buys a substantially similar security within 30 days.
• The wash-sale rule prevents taxpayers from deducting a capital loss on the sale against the capital gain of other sales.

Affect on Cost Basis:

• The loss that occurs on a wash sale is added to the cost basis of the shares purchased that created the wash sale.
• When all shares are sold and there is no repurchase, that increased cost basis will be used in full and used to determine gain or loss.

As long as you are tracking the wash sales and are not using them on the tax return when you are not allowed, then you can simply enter the same cost basis as the selling price. This will  reconcile your tax return with your Form 1099-B Proceeds which is what the IRS is comparing.

Be sure to keep good records so that you know when to add those losses for future sales.  A broker may know when a wash sale occurs but may not know when the final disposal of that stock that was part of a wash sale occurs.

If you summarize your transactions into long and short term you must send your statement or statements to the IRS with Form 8453 and TurboTax will alert you.

If you are e-filing your tax return, then mail your statements along with Form 8453 to: 

Internal Revenue Service

Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254 

Receipt and Control Branch 

Austin, TX 73344-0254

If you need a blank Form 8453, you can download this pdf, enter your address information and check the box for Form 8949 (this form is really just a cover sheet).

[PAGB]

Thank You for answering.

I do have another question: after I entered my section sales Turbotax asked me if I I needed to attach any pdf file as supporting documentation.

I am guessing this is a new development?

Basically it seems to me that I no longer need to print 8453 and mail in the supporting documentation because I can now attach it as a pdf file to my efile return?

[LinaJ2020 · Accepted solution]

Yes, it is a fairly new development. 

For e-filing purposes, the original purpose of Form 8453 is to attach the Form 8949 and 1099-B details supporting documents.  With this new development where you can upload the 1099-B details, you would not need to mail in anything.

When you e-file the return, the uploaded 1099-B details and Form 8949 will also be e-filed to the IRS.  No additional information needs to be mailed in. 

@PAGB

[PAGB]

Thank you very much

[Jacman11]

Hello,

Just a follow up question on that topic. I too uploaded my 1099-B because I have a lot of wash sales and would rather not mail it in. However, when I go to file, the TurboTax filing instructions say I have to mail in a copy. I can't tell whether the 1099-B PDF I uploaded has been attached. Is this just an automated error message and my 1099-B will in fact be sent thru efile?

[PAGB]

Curious, I'd like to know the answer to this too. It's really not feasible mailing in so many pages of paper.

[Jacman11]

I called the TurboTax customer service line and the lady assured me that even though I don’t see my uploaded 1099-B on the preview forms for my state and federal, that it will be sent separately to the IRS. So I’m trusting that that is correct. The IRS also receives the 1099-B directly from the brokerage, so this step seems redundant anyway. 

[PAGB]

Thank you so much for the update!!

[PAGB]

@LinaJ2020 

I had a few more questions about the new feature in TT where we can now attach pdf files.

Is there a limit to how big the pdf attachment can be?

Is there a way that I can attach multiple pdf files?

Does the desktop version or Premier also allow this feature?

Thank you for your time

[Jacman11]

@PAGB @LinaJ2020 
Hopefully the expert can give you the official answer but:

The 1099-B I uploaded was around 220 pages as I recall, and that uploaded fine.

I do not see an ability to upload multiple PDFs, which sucks if you have multiple brokerages and 1099-Bs. In that case, I would recommend using a tool to combine multiple PDFs into 1 file.

Hope this helps!

[PAGB]

@Jacman11 

Thank you, yes it seemed to me that it was only allowing for one PDF attachment but I thought

maybe there's some way to do multiple.

[Chw6586-doris]

What is the limit of stock and options trades for Turbo Tax Premier. In some versions it is 1500. I trade a lot of options and dont want to send in reams of paper documents because TurboTax cant handle the volume

[DoninGA]

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@Chw6586-doris wrote:

What is the limit of stock and options trades for Turbo Tax Premier. In some versions it is 1500. I trade a lot of options and dont want to send in reams of paper documents because TurboTax cant handle the volume

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See this TurboTax support FAQ for volume sales - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/entering-importing/help/how-many-stock-transactions-can-turbotax-o...

[taxedcustomer]

Did you see a good response to "I have more than one brokerage account, can Turbotax premier calculate the wash sale correctly across multiple accounts?" ?