The NQSO sales income reported on my 1099-B was also reported as income on my W-2. How I can input my 1099-B without being double counted?

[cormac]

I've searched the forums, and most of the responses from a few years back suggest a "Walk me through it" option that seems to be unavailable.

[TomYoung · Accepted solution]

You mean "1099-B", I'm sure.

The problem here is that you are using the wrong basis to report the sale.

The "step by step" interviews are still available but I generally don't advise using them as people frequently get confused by these interviews.

To give you both an understanding and a fix:

When you sell stock acquired via an employer stock incentive program your basis for the sale is the sum of:

1. Any amount you paid to receive the stock, which might be $0, plus
2. Compensation income created either by the acquisition or sale of the stock

The compensation income created by either the acquisition or sale of the stock, (different stock options have different rules here), should be included in your W-2 and reported to you in either Box 12 or Box 14.

If the sale is "covered" - broker reports basis to IRS - then since 2014 brokers are only required to report the "purchase price" element of the sale.  The basis reported by the broker omits the "compensation" element of the sale and therefore the "compensation" amount gets reported twice if you enter the 1099-B as it reads: once via the W-2 and then again as an overstatement of gain on the sale of the stock.

Clearly the "fix" here is to add back the compensation element to the basis of the stock being sold.  Of course if the sale is not for all of the stock granted under an employer stock incentive plan award, you then you need to convert the compensation element to a "per-share" figure which you use in reporting the sale.

If the 1099-B is reporting the basis to the IRS and is not using the correct basis then enter the 1099-B as it reads on the default 1099-B entry form but then click on the "I'll enter additional info on my own " blue button.  On the next page enter the correct basis in the "Corrected cost basis" box.  The correct basis is (number of shares sold) x (correct per share basis, which included the compensation per share)

TurboTax will report the sale on Form 8949 "as reported by the broker" but will put an adjustment figure into column (g) of the Form, a code "B" into column (f) of the Form, and the correct amount of gain or loss which includes the adjustment.

Tom Young

[cormac]

Thank you. Updating G to B (thanks for the catch)! So if i add 12v to my basis, it appears to work out. It's actually a slightly negative number (commissions?). Should I zero it out, or keep the slight negative? And thank you again!

[TomYoung]

If the 1099-B is reporting the sale of ALL the stocks in the grant and there are commissions and fees reported then what you have is exactly correct.

[jamestcameron]

i don't understand why turbo-tax cannot get this right for the import...i've done it manually 2 years in a row, which isn't bad, but you'd think they could automate this for us.

[TomYoung]

The "import" is all on the broker's end.  They fill out the 1099-B in the same fashion that they report to the IRS and that 1099-B doesn't contain any information about the "real" basis.  There's no way that TurboTax can automate that.