Sold put options

[Anonymous]

Where do I list "sold" put options?

[WillK · Accepted solution]

Put options are similar to short positions on stock and get reported as such. Options are capital investments, just like stocks, and the IRS basically treats them the same way. They are reported on Schedule D.

1. Login to you return

2. Click continue your return

3. On the top right corner you will see My Account, click that

4. Click tools

5. Click Topic Search

6. Enter in Schedule D, and go

7. Follow the prompts and answer the questions. 

[Anonymous]

This schedule D will not work for options "just" sold. Turbo keeps asking for a bought price. An option "just" sold does not have a bought price!

[Newbie2Inv]

I may have figured it out  Under investment Sales (stocks, bonds etc) and using the instructions on your 1099 B which tells you what to write in Box 1a, 1b etc.  Both sell date and the expiration date are listed as the same date of expiration so I didn't use the date I actually purchased the Put

The 1099 B instructions are confusing because the spread sheet doesn't line up directly with the 1 a, 1b etc so you have to look at it carefully  Hope I got it right but at least the numbers look like they work

[TomYoung]

"Where do I list 'sold' put options?"

Your question is confusing because it really doesn't explain your situation and you're forcing people to try and interpret a verb in quotation marks, which usually means that the author doesn't really agree with the use of the term.

If you wrote a put option, i.e., sold a put, then that doesn't go on your income tax return.  You've taken a position, (e.g., you've bought a stock), and until that position results in a realized gain or loss you don't report that on your income tax return.  Just like you don't report to the IRS every stock you've ever bought, unless you've sold the stock, you don't report the writing of a put option.  When the put expires or is exercised, that's when you have a reportable event.