1099-B Rounding

[MichaelS]

Good evening,

I'm trying to file taxes. When filing my taxes Turbo Tax seems to be rounding my 1099-B weirdly.

Actual: 

Sold / Bought / Gain & Loss

318.66 / 359.33 / -40.67
186.33 / 213.67 / -27.34

145.33 / 174.67 / -29.34

156.99 / 173.00 / -16.01

307 / 182 / 125

427.32 / 185.67 / 241.65

Turbo Tax reports:

319 / 359 / -40

186 / 214 / -28

145 / 175 / -30

157 / 173 / 16

307 / 182 / 125

427 / 186 / 241

Isn't turbo tax supposed to add all these numbers then round? I'm worried that this might end up being flagged later on due to me still needing to add some sales. So far this number is off by 1, but when I finished earlier it was off by almost $15

Shouldn't it be 253, not 252?

[MinhT1 · Accepted solution]

TurboTax is applying the IRS convention and is rounding off each "Sold" and "Bought" number individually. The Gain/loss is then the difference of the rounded numbers.

This is the correct method. The IRS will know that this is due to rounding.

[sethaadams]

I just ran across this also.  This is most certainly different than how TT 2019 handled it.  In TT 2019, each individual transaction (trade) was carried to the correct number of cents and matched my 1099-Bs perfectly, rounding only the total to the nearest dollar.

TT 2020 handles this differently at the transaction level, rounding each individual transaction to the nearest dollar and then summing the rounded numbers to show the overall gain/loss.  Help!  For me, it's resulting in a higher total that could lead to additional taxes.

Not cool.

[sethaadams]

Could whoever responds please contrast TT 2019 handling compared with TT 2020?  Please do not simply repeat the prior answer.  This is different.

[Stonks]

It's even worse... In my case, some numbers get rounded and some don't (seems random which are and which aren't). Technically, if you read 1099-B instructions, it does say you can round every number (so, that wouldn't necessarily be an issue). But, in my case, after loading the form I see some lines with all rounded numbers and some in which the proceeds / cost basis is not rounded (but the gain/loss total is).

Up to the point that one line even has proceeds of 135.75 with cost basis of 125.47 and the gain shows 11 (when 135.75 - 125.47 = 10.28 which would round to 10). But, if you were rounding every number it would be 136 - 125 = 11.

Now, if TurboTax was just rounding everything and showing everything rounded, that would not be inconsistent. The current behavior, which is indeed different than in TT 2019, is just inconsistent.

[Stonks]

Just to be clear... If TurboTax was rounding my line to 136 / 125 / 11 that would be fine. But leaving 135.75 / 125.47 / 11 is wrong. On other lines, TT just decided to round every number (like I said, it seems just random).

As a workaround, I could just round everything myself (or input the summary and attach the form) but it would be cool if it's fixed to be consistent (whether it decides to round numbers in every step or in the totals).

[sethaadams]

Intuit, you really need to fix this.  It's just seems sloppy.

[MaxTax00]

Yes, TurboTax has totally botched this. It was not like this last year and now everyone who imports a 1099-B with a large number of transactions is going to get a noticeable variance between what the IRS sees on a TurboTax return and what the Broker sends the IRS. TurboTax is absurdly rounding at the individual transaction level.  I am not even sure the IRS allows rounding when further computations are needed... but they certainly don't require rounding this early so don't force it upon us TurboTax. If I was to think of a way for TurboTax to most annoy customers, rounding this early would be near the top of the list. We are not using Pen and Paper so rounding this early is ONLY an annoyance.  Any Accountant knows that variances create a huge headache. You can't just assume a variance is from rounding because there might be a more serious issue with the data underneath it.

We have been complaining about it here and are determined to see TurboTax fix it. https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/retirement/discussion/re-rest-assured-this-rounding-difference-wil...

[MaxTax00]

Once again, the IRS does not say you have to Round at the individual transaction level like these TurboTax experts claim. It specifically says you "Can." Now, TurboTax should do us all a favor and fix their software so that it is most user friendly for their customers who are trying to identify any variances in their data and give us the option to not round at the transaction level.  Rounding 1,000 transactions leads to large variances with what gets reported to the IRS on 1099-B statements by Brokers/Banks. It was absolutely not like this last year, so what changed? No one from TurboTax has yet to give an acceptable explanation.

[mjrengaw]

And for some reason they keep marking these threads as “solved” when they most clearly are not.

[MaxTax00]

Yes, TurboTax experts.....can any of you give us a satisfactory answer why TurboTax forces us to round at the individual transaction level when the IRS does not?  The IRS probably allows it to help people who use a pen and paper on their kitchen table  and not expensive software! I expect precision from software to make our jobs easier, not more difficult. Please fix or at least tell us why it was not like this last year.

This issue is not solved.

[Stonks]

If I start over, now it's a bit more consistent... It's rounding everything that has an adjustment but it also rounds before computing the totals which shows weird results. For instance, one of my line says:

Proceeds: $135.73

Cost: $125.45

Gain/Loss: $11.00

When $135.73 - $125.45 is $10.28 which would really round to $10. Also, as said, all the lines with adjustments have every number rounded (which is still inconsistent). It should either round everything or nothing.

[Stonks]

The other issue is that to get the new (more consistent) behavior I had to start over and input everything manually again (since importing from my brokerage accounts is either not supported or working incorrectly as well). This means that I'm really paying for TurboTax to enter everything manually many times at this point.

Also, I still wouldn't be able to file since form 2210 (which is, in theory, not required to be filed anyway) is not available until 02/25/2021 (but since it's not required, I wonder why it matters).

[Naniken]

This is not solved for me Feb 24th. In some cases it rounds correctly, in some cases not. I would not have noticed if I hadn't had to enter the Merrill Lynch sales  manually -- because the download is not working. Not a happy user here. I will round manually. I think TTax owes me a refund!

[HighHat69]

Best answer?!  You are kidding, right.

The Gross Proceeds in Turbo Tax (online screen and Schedule D), don't match the paper 1099-B I received.  It is off by more than $2.00.