Help calculating the cost basis for collectable securities 1099-B line 12 under Other Transactions

[jacope55]

TurboTax is asking me for the cost basis that my 1099-B lists as Not Available with the footnote that these were for proceeds from collectible securities, Line 12.  These sales of SPDR GOLD TRUST were included under a section labeled "OTHER TRANSACTION - Cost basis not reported to IRS - Form 8949, (X)".  When I look up the cost basis in old statements, I find numbers that don't seem to make sense in that the value of the holdings when acquired and when sold would be thousands of times the proceeds shown in box 1d.  I am afraid if I enter those high numbers are incorrect and make it look like I lost $50k that I did not actually lose.  (I would have noticed.) 

Note that the same holding is also shown as being sold under the Short Term and Long Term Capital Gains & Loses sections but with a cost basis and proceeds that appear to be reasonable.  

So what are "collectible securities" under "Other Transactions", and what should I simply enter zeros for the cost basis to malify TurboTax?

[JohnB5677 · Accepted solution]

If there is a section that says Other Transactions Form 8949,X, the Cost Basis or Holding Period (long or short term) is unknown by your broker, your 1099-B shows a Code X to indicate that.

If you are sure that this is a double posting of all of your sales, you can post both sets, but on the Other Transaction grouping you should make the basis the same as the proceeds.  Follow these steps to do this:

To correct the cost basis on stocks from a 1099-B

1. Start at Investment income
2. Select Stocks, Mutual Funds ....
3. Choose the Broker or Institution
4. Select the individual stock
5. The data you entered will be there
6. Toward the bottom of the screen select [I'll enter additional info on my own]
7. In the entry for Box 2 enter Corrected Cost Basis

[fanfare]

If you didn't already know, you are about to find that reporting GLD correctly in a non-taxdeferred account is extremely unpleasant.

See here  www.costbasis.com

and go to the GLD page