How do I record a short sale on Turbo Tax for which borrowed stock was sold and then acquired to cover the call (i.e. the acquisition date is after the sale date)?

[jdrobac]

Turbo tax tells me that the date acquired cannot be after the date sold.

[Anonymous]

use the same acquired and sales date which will force it to short term. for the date use the date that the call was exercised.  the point is a short sale is short term capital gain.

strange in the desktop version the date acquired can be after the date sold and the error check doesn't bounce it. 

[fanfare]

In order to close a short you must go to the market and acquire some securities.

The acquired date is the date you closed the short sale.
For Stocks, the disposed date is two business days later (settlement).
Options settle in one day.

Note to those for whom it is not obvious: Date Acquired and Date Disposed refer to Columns (b) and (c) on Form 8949 that you will report to the IRS.
Your trade date is the date you closed the position and goes in (b). Settlement date must be calculated taking into account weekends and market holidays.

[D_ONEILL]

Yes to close a short sale you buy securities.  Other than that your response is not at all correct, but valiant attempt.

A short sale has acquisition and disposal dates swapped from a long sale, that is all.  The date disposed is always on or before the date acquired because you are selling the item and then purchasing it to cover later.  It has little to nothing to do with weekends or 1-3 day waiting periods.

Edit: Reading the form instructions indicates that I am incorrect, the date for short sale in column b will be the date of the buy-to-close transaction and in column c would be the actual delivery date of the purchased security.

[DavidD66]

@jdrobac Instead of thinking of your short sale transaction in terms of date acquired and date sold, think in terms of the Date Opened - this is the date you "acquired" the short position, and Date Closed - this is the date you covered your short position.  The date opened corresponds to the "purchase" date for long positions, and the date closed corresponds to the date closed for long positions. 

[fanfare]

@D_ONEILL 

I know you believe what you are saying.

The reporting is counterintuitive.

Please refer to the IRS instructions for how to report a short sale.

I myself could not interpret the document correctly for many years.

Finally, I realized what the instructions are saying.

I myself did not interpret the wash sale instructions correctly for many years.

I finally got it when an expert at Vanguard called me to explain my confusion.

After several readings, you should, finally, get it.

References:

IRS Instructions for Form 8949

"Column (c)—Date Sold or Disposed Of
Enter in this column the date you sold or
disposed of the property.
For a short sale, enter the date you delivered
the property to the broker or lender to
close the short sale. "

This would be the settlement date after acquiring the property.

[D_ONEILL]

My apologies.  What you said does make sense and is probably exactly what the instructions meant. 

I should have taken my frustration at this occurring every year to my investment firm or TurboTax and re-read the form instructions again this year as I had likely reached the same conclusion last year when correcting so many short sale dates.