Entering information on sale of stock turbotax will not accept the numbers for shares and net proceeds, claiming numbers are too large. What should I do?

[HelenaC · Accepted solution]

TurboTax limits the number of digits in data entry fields to nine, including the cents figures to the right of the decimal point.

To illustrate, enter the 8-digit amount 10,000,000 into box 1 of your W-2 form in TurboTax. (Don't you wish?) TurboTax will add .00 to the amount, exceeding the 9-digit limit, and you'll see the message The value is too large for this field. Please enter a smaller number.

To get around this,  break the transaction down into two or three equal transactions with identical information.

Related information:

• Where do I enter a 1099-B?

[rfrome44]

I received an email referencing Contact #15118 saying that the problem was resolved with the latest update, but didn't provide the update/version number. The latest program update I have is R18, but that didn't solve this problem of the value/data field adding ".00" to a rounded number to exceed the number of digits allowed. I need 10 spaces (8 numbers + 2 commas) to summarize stock transactions from my 1099-B.

[Logical]

Has this problem been fixed?  It's ridiculous that TurboTax can't handle more than 10 digits.  Ongoing nightmare with this software that doesn't allow an import for 2018 - and now, it can't handle more than 10 digits?  wth?

[TomYoung]

Nothing has changed here.  It's a "retail" program designed for the needs of the vast majority of taxpayers.  If you're dealing with trades or anything else that exceed $10 million you're outside of that vast majority. 

If you're dealing with stock trades where you're entering numbers ($s x # of shares) and one of the numbers exceed the limit, then sometimes you can move the decimal point of the "too large" number X number of places to the left and move the decimal point of the other number X number of places to the right.  It's the Product number that's really important in an income tax return.

[TraderChabe]

Today 2/23/2020 am entering the summary for the 1099-B and am getting the error "The value is too large..."  Am just entering 19million and Turbo Tax has not yet fixed this issue.  Also, until now - you cannot attach a pdf for online submission of 8949.  What a shame.  After using TurboTax for 2 decades I will be switching to TaxAct.

Note: Customer Service also was terrible, informed me to just enter the largest I can - tell that to the IRS.   

[Logical]

Thanks for reminding me that I still have to deal with this mess.  I was trying to be ahead of the game and get my taxes done early - but for the idiocy of TurboTax, I cannot move forward.  I mean, what does it take to expand the field to 10 or 11 digits?  I might be switching to TaxAct too.  Let me know how it works out.  Good luck. 🙂

[cindy1234]

just experiencing this issue myself right now. 

i called customer service and the guy I dealt with contacted his higher ups and they said couldn't use since amount too large.

anyone have a solution yet?

[DavidD66]

As mentioned in the thread, the largest number you can enter in TurboTax is 9,999,999.99 . Let's say you need to enter sales proceeds of $15,600,000.00  TurboTax won't accept it.  To get around this, break it down into three transactions of $5,200,000.00.  You would also need to adjust the cost basis and # of shares accordingly.

[cindy1234]

that work around seemed to work! hope that works for the IRS too! 

after entering for the second broker, it asked to upload the 1099B document, but you can only upload one document. How do you upload 2 documents if you have for 2 brokers?

[HelenC12]

To import the information from the second broker. see How do I import my 1099?

[cindy1234]

Here's my scenario...

I have 2 brokerage firms I'm entering info from. 

I click Edit on the first one. It goes through the motion of selecting the broker, and then entering the proceeds & cost basis. Then that's it.

But when I click Edit on the second broker...it does the same motions as the first one, except at the end it asks to upload the 1099-B.  And I can only upload ONE document. It says if you need to upload a different document, delete the first document.

So how can I upload TWO documents? or what's the solution here?

Thanks!

[Thummper]

Just ran into this issue, and it is a VERY short sided coding issue, should be easily fixed. You don't have to have made 10,000,000 on a w-2 to run into it. Anyone who dabbled in day trading can get there really quick because if you buy/sell/buy/sell/buy/sell your cost and proceeds stack up. You could easily have something like 20,000,000 cost 20,010,000 proceeds. In that case (similar to mine) you didnt MAKE 10m, never HAD 10m, but the frequency of trading caused large reported numbers. Honestly, anyone who has coded a single project can see that this should be an easy fix (and should never have been an issue).

[questions_nC]

Does H&R block software allow for more digits?  thx

[Steve_3821]

I just tried HR Block and it crashed on 3,000 trade entries. Not sure about the $10M limit though. I am going to try to split entry to get around the $10M limit. Shame they can't fix this.