etrade now reports losses of short options on 1099B as a negative number for proceeds in box 1d and a zero value for cost basis, rather than separate values for cost basis and proceeds that show a loss.
Etrades explanation:
"We are now updating our reporting of short options on the 1099-B to reflect how the IRS is now requesting that these transactions be reported. In this new format, the cost basis and proceeds for short options is consolidated into Box 1d in a net amount."
This is rejected by turbo tax since it will not allow negative numbers in box 1d. Who is wrong etrade or turbox tax? Worse yet,turbo tax changes the negative number for a loss into a positive number for a reported gain, and it is drastically increasing the amount of taxes owed for me. How do I correct this? I have hundreds of trades and I don't want to enter all this data manually. Turbo Tax import from etrade should work, and whoever is wrong should fix their software and/or reporting.
Yeah....TTX does negative numbers in a special way.
"Supposedly" putting the number in parentheses indicates it's negative. -121.00 = (121.00).
IF it really works, then that could be done to correct a few trades....but more than a few would be a PITA.
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Call Customer Support...they need to get this reported, and corrected in the software....or make sure it's already reported and corrections started (might take a couple weeks):
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number/00/25632
Apparently they are aware...you can sign up here for when the fix is issued:
I tried changing one of the bad entries using parenthesis as a negative value and that does not work, but thanks for your replies
Good to know....that parentheses thing was noted as a possibility somewhere, but don't recall where...doubt I can find it the never-ending avalanche of "Where's My Money?" posts.
well, this was partially fixed today. You can now enter a negative value in box 1d, but the import from etrade is still changing negative values from the 1099B for short option sales into positive values, totally screwing up the total reported value of net gain/loss for a given 1099B
Did you actually remove the prior download first ? And then re-import the data?
IF not, then that is what you may have to do first, i.e what was imported before was already converted wrong.
OF course, removing an import is EASY in the desktop software...not sure how you do it with the Online software (most of us SU's would never user the Online software ourselves...except for test purposes).
You'd probably have to call Customer Support to find out how to remove an import....might have to go to "Delete A Form" and delete stuff you don't want to along with what you do want to get rid of.
yes, in fact I did it twice. The 2nd tiime i deleted my browser cache and cookies before I redid the import and it still did not work
Funny temporary fix - edit the incorrect entry - try to enter an open parenthesis at the beginning of the number you want to correct to a negative value. Get error saying to enter a number, then enter a negative sign.
As an active investor, be aware that your category Box A sales without adjustments do not require Form 8949, so there is no reason to import or key in those transactions.
instead use the "enter a summary" option to put your numbers on Schedule D Line 1a.
So if you enter summary information do you have to mail in your 1099-B to back up your summary data? If so does that mean you can't efile? If you can't efile that is a pretty strong argument to get this import feature working!
unbelievable! Thanks for letting me know. I would have been mad if I found this out on my own
confirming that this is still an issue for 2020 tax year. I just got a ton of errors when trying to file my return. It's especially troublesome in the web version of turbo tax because it takes time to load the PDF-ed 1099B for EACH invalid entry. will definitely have to wait for the bug patch. this is my first year using turbo tax - did they resolve it last year within a reasonable time frame last year? were there proactive communications to the user base that it was fixed?
I believe they fixed this in about 2 weeks or so. So they better jump on this and get it fixed quick
when they fixed this problem last year it was resolved under case number (it wont let me post case #, it thinks it is a social security number) If you want t follow up with them directly, fill out a request at https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/ This will eventually take you to a page with the phone number and a support ID.
To be able to post a negative value to form 1099-B box 1d follow these steps.
Thanks John! Are you with Turbo Tax? Is there a chance that this will be addressed systemically? My transaction volume is significant.
This is rediculous! Turbo tax can't possibly expect everyone to manually enter this data when several people have hundreds if not thousands of transactions! This problem was already fixed once and it needs to be fixed again ASAP! Most people will be getting their brokerage forms by mid February
@canuck97 You can enter a Summary of your Transactions in Each Category in Lieu of invidual transactions.
Click this link for info on How to Enter a Large Number of Stock Transactions.
Hi Marilyn, thanks for the response.
To be clear, if I have 10,000 stock transactions, then I'm able to skip entering (or importing) all 10,000 transactions. I can just look at the bottom-line financial impact of all of the 10,000 transactions. i.e. If I made $1,000 net through all of the 10,000 transactions, then I can just enter in $1,000?
Another option, type in 4 lines manually. Each line is the total for that type of transaction. The IRS has the same brokerage statement and totals.
Enter the totals for each:
@keebin_tax