I traded with an international broker called SureTrader, I never at any one time had more than 6000$ in the account, i did use 6x margin to trade up to 36,000$, FATCA?

[fanfare · Accepted solution]

your margin loan balance is not part of your assets in the account. It is a liability.

[iced205]

Thank you, this is incredibly helpful. I was stressing over this, as i briefly used them as a broker.

[genxgeek]

not to hijack this this thread but I too had a SureTrader account in 2017....total amount deposited was $3000 and i ended up losing it.  can I report this $3000 as a loss? i'm not a securities trader or professional trader as I have a w-2 from my regular employer... @fanfare @iced205

[fanfare]

I suppose they did not send you a 1099-B? If they accept an account from a US investor, they should send a 1099-B.

[genxgeek]

@fanfare thx for the reply...SureTrader doesn't send out 1099-B....here was their response to my ask regarding "...how can I obtain my 1099?":

"...we do not handle any tax concerns or reports. For more information on that, you would have to speak with a tax professional. Our clients are not taxed on their accounts in The Bahamas, but they are responsible for tax obligations in their own country. Clients may obtain their trade records through IBOSS. We do provide you with a history of your profits/losses in your iboss account.SureTrader is not a US Broker-Dealer, and therefore we do not provide nor are we required to provide any tax forms or 1099 forms to clients."

[fanfare]

you would have to prepare Form 8949 based on your own records.

[genxgeek]

@fanfare thx. ok so being since it was a foreign account do I have to file another FBAR/FATCA 8938 (I believe it 8938...or something like that for foreign accounts) to avoid penalty of any sort regarding trading and registering a foreign accounts and reporting loss/gains?

[genxgeek]

IRS Form 8938
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/form-8938-statement-of-foreign-financial-assets">https://www.irs.gov/...>

[fanfare]

you have to report foreign accounts regardless of whether you had any activity there affecting your 2017 tax return.
Filing 8949 is a separate process.
Use your judgement..

[SecuritiesLawyer]

Hi,

Would you please let me know if you can speak with me for a few minutes about an investigation into SureTrader customer accounts? I am looking into how Suretrader kept track of customer trading..thanks!