I am getting "Sales Price is not between the prescribed upper and lower limits" error when entering in the data from my Form 1099-B.

[Gracie Lou]

The system will not let me enter a negative number and says it has to be 0 or above. But I sold an option, it expired and there was a loss so Sales price on my 1099-B is negative. TurboTax does not let me enter it

Edited the Question on 2/16/21 to specify the issue in more detail. 

[Anonymous_]

The program will not allow you to enter a negative number for sales proceeds.

[Gracie Lou]

I’m not sure how that answer got accepted as a solution because it is far from it.

I was able to bypass the error message after logging in and out. A sales price can be negative when you make a short sale so intuit is incorrect. 

[larryf23]

I'm getting this error when I have imported data from TDAmeritrade for my brokerage account.  There are many short sales in my account this year.  It is only flagging one of them as "Sales Price is not between the prescribed upper and lower limits".  There are many transactions that have negative sales proceeds that it is not flagging as being incorrect.

The numbers entered are correct according to my 1099-B.  How do I correct this and make it accept the numbers?

[quantbone2020]

Gracie--how were you able to fix it by logging in and out? Do you mean restarting the program? I tried, but it doesn't work for me. Thank you for your help!

[AnnetteB6 · Accepted solution]

There has been a change by the IRS starting with the 2020 tax returns that will reject any return filed with a negative number reported in the proceeds or cost basis fields for Schedule D.  TurboTax is flagging these situations ahead of time before the return is filed in order to prevent the IRS rejection.  Some brokers are still using the old convention for reporting negative values and have not updated their reports to match the IRS.  

The error message reported by TurboTax is telling you that the number entered cannot be negative.

Gains from expired options are reported by entering the gain amount in the proceeds column and no amount in the cost basis column.  The end result here would be positive. 

 Losses from expired options are reported by entering the loss amount in the cost basis column and no amount in the proceeds column. The end result here would be negative. 

 No negative numbers should be entered in either the cost basis or proceeds fields.  

If negative numbers have been imported through your brokerage statement, you will need to edit the entries to make the correction.  

@quantbone2020

@larryf23

@Gracie Lou

[NF64]

This did not fix the problem.  I changed the two fields you indicated but it then -0- zeroed it out not a negative.  

[quantbone2020]

@NF64 

I highly recommend calling TurboTax and reporting this issue. I reported mine this weekend, and the phone rep had no idea how to fix it. If enough people complain about this software issue, I would have to imagine TurboTax would eventually release an update to correct this? I can't imagine how many TurboTax users buy/sell options...

[larryf23]

I finally deleted the auto-imported 1099-B from my broker and entered my information manually in TurboTax.  That's the only thing I found that worked.

[CarolM1]

Thank you, AnnetteB6 for the explanation. I exited the "Review" page by signing out, then signed back in and changed the Cost Basis to the positive value and the Sales Proceeds to zero in the Income section (not in the Federal Review section). Worked like a charm; Gain/Loss is now the correct negative number.

[dbrier2]

Having the same problem with my TD account  and short options. That suggestion was a perfect fix. 

Thanks for the information

[fanfare]

@Gracie Lou 

cost and proceeds can never be negative, 

you can't pay out or receive negative dollars.

only column(h) can be negative.

If Turbotax is letting you go on, count yourself lucky.

[HMR2]

I called the Turbo Tax experts about this and was eventually referred to this thread.  AnnetteB6's post is the best answer.  Brokers will need to issue undated tax reporting statements to conform to the revised IRS instructions.  Meanwhile editing the values will correct the negative number problem and produce the same correct gain or loss  for each edited transaction. 

Two new related questions for AnnetteB6 or other tax experts:  Since zeroing out the negative numbers in the proceeds column will increase the total proceeds, total proceeds will not match the broker's report to the IRS.  Will this cause the return to be rejected by the IRS?  Even if it does not, will we have to file an amended return when the broker subsequently issues a corrected 1099B?    

[Gracie Lou]

Even though the system let me bypass the error somehow, I am going back in and following @AnnetteB6 's instructions and it is correcting the issue.  Thank you very much. 

[Gracie Lou]

Hi @quantbone2020 , I now realize that although I was able to bypass the issue but it did not correct it. I am now following @AnnetteB6's instructions and it is correcting the issue.