Betterment made thousands of transaction, lots of which have a zero for the disallowed wash sale loss amount. I believe all the ones with zeros are profitable sales so it makes since that the loss amount would be zero.
The error messaging you are seeing with regard to the wash sale entries is a result of automatic rounding of the number imported from your broker or typed in by you. If the wash sale adjustment is $0.49 or less, then it is automatically rounded to zero. This type of rounding is allowed by the IRS. Unfortunately, zero is not a valid value for this field -- thus the error message.
To resolve the issue, you can edit each individual transaction (although not from the screen in the review process) and delete the amount entered in the wash sale adjustment if it is $0.49 or less. This will clear the error message.
To do this, you will need to revisit the input section for the Form 1099-B transactions. Use the following steps:
If you have too many transactions that would require editing, you can consider deleting your imported information and entering a summary of the different categories of transactions reported on your Form 1099-B (short-term covered, short-term not covered, long-term covered, long-term not covered). This would require you to mail a copy (not the original) of your Form 1099-B from your brokerage to the IRS within three days of filing your return. The Form 1099-B would be attached to Form 8453, which will print with your return.
The error messaging you are seeing with regard to the wash sale entries is a result of automatic rounding of the number imported from your broker or typed in by you. If the wash sale adjustment is $0.49 or less, then it is automatically rounded to zero. This type of rounding is allowed by the IRS. Unfortunately, zero is not a valid value for this field -- thus the error message.
To resolve the issue, you can edit each individual transaction (although not from the screen in the review process) and delete the amount entered in the wash sale adjustment if it is $0.49 or less. This will clear the error message.
To do this, you will need to revisit the input section for the Form 1099-B transactions. Use the following steps:
If you have too many transactions that would require editing, you can consider deleting your imported information and entering a summary of the different categories of transactions reported on your Form 1099-B (short-term covered, short-term not covered, long-term covered, long-term not covered). This would require you to mail a copy (not the original) of your Form 1099-B from your brokerage to the IRS within three days of filing your return. The Form 1099-B would be attached to Form 8453, which will print with your return.
Thanks for the help @AnnetteB6 . After navigating to the transactions list, it appears I have around 1000 transactions that would have to be manually edited if I wanted to e-file. Is this not a software bug? It rounds it to zero because if it's under $0.49 you don't have to include it, but you're not allowed to put zero so it's now created an error on the form. Shouldn't it just be automatically leaving that field blank instead of putting a zero?
Manually editing hundreds of transactions is not a solution. This is a bug in TurboTax. Why does TurboTax never get this one part of a filing right ever! It’s a unique bug related to 1099-B every single year!
Yes, this is a huge waste of time. I'll do this this year, but will move off Turbotax next year (9 year customer) if this can't be fixed.
No.
I spent two hours with support and the best we could come up with was manually editing the problem entries on the 1099-B which took another 3 hours because of the terrible design of the page to do that. The support tech was very nice and professional, she escalated this to her support team, and was as helpful as possible. In the end the support team struck out and found the only solution was to manually change 1099-B entries :(
Who in the dev shop or UI team really thought that paging through entries 25 at a time searching for a single entry out of hundreds to thousands was sensible? I need to find tax software that actually works with 1099-B’s. Any suggestions on a competitor I can take my business to for next year?
Has anyone confirmed if TaxAct or HR Block do this import correctly? I will gladly call TurboTax to demand a refund (yes, TurboTax charged before I've even filed be return because I cannot get passed this **bleep** bug). This is a non-starter for me.
Since TurboTax had already charged me also, I went ahead and followed @AnnetteB6 ’s instructions for how to file using a summary instead of the imported data, and it wasn’t difficult at all, and actually TurboTax asked for a pdf of the 1099-B and still did all the filing electronically for me - there was nothing I need to mail.
Yes, it’s ridiculous that TurboTax doesn’t just handle it all automatically once you link it with your investment account, and it’s ridiculous that the fix is not clearer since this has got be a very common problem, but it’s not that hard to workaround. I probably won’t be abandoning TurboTax over this.
Is turbotax planning on fixing this issue? I am facing the same problem. I have already been charged for a premier package and this issue was not highlighted till I had already paid for it.
i have the same problem like every one
I imported my 1099-B, and now Turbotax is telling me the "Disallowed Wash Sale Loss Amount" for each transaction cannot be 0
I should think Turbo Tax should be able to change the field settings to allow it to be zero. This is really disappointing. Hopefully, they have this bug fixed soon.
There should be an easy way to manually change the offending entry but there isn't! This is a bug and it is preventing me from eFiling my State and Federal taxes.
Spent 1 hour with Tech Support yesterday. The person wasn't even aware of the bug, let alone a workaround.
Hit this bug too.
Any recommendation of alternative services are appreciated.
I'd be very happy to move away.
Having this exact issue with over 30 pages of transactions. I'm extremely frustrated that TurboTax has not fixed this simple obvious bug and instead expects users to spend hours on manual workarounds or otherwise resort to mailing things in. @AnnetteB6 given the number of folks facing this issue in the forum, could you please provide an update on whether and when TurboTax is planning to fix this bug?
The issue with rounding the wash sale amount to zero when it is $0.49 or less is currently being investigated and addressed by the appropriate team. There is no known time frame for this available for me to share.
@AnnetteB6 I just returned from the Post Office, mailing hard copy returns. Hope they have this bug fixed in time for the 2021 tax filing.
Mine was $1.80 and was having the "zero" issue myself. So i went in and deleted the wash loss numbers on the transactions because that seems like the closest solution to my problem. I couldn't even put $1 in so if i get audited or charged for this the bill is going to Turbo tax for the issues that they have with their system.
Don’t file that way! Just follow Annette’s instructions to file a summary instead of itemized. It’s easier and you won’t be committing tax fraud.
Annette said to go into each transaction and change it to zero so that’s what i did.
You can edit the transactions to leave the wash sale adjustment boxes blank if they are 49 cents or less. You can opt to delete your imported information and enter a summary instead. If you opt for the summary reporting, this would require you to mail a copy (not the original) of your Form 1099-B from your brokerage to the IRS within three days of filing your return. Form 1099-B would be attached to Form 8453, which will print with your return. So although your return still gets e-filed, Form 8453 still needs to be mailed to the IRS. Someone mentioned not having to mail anything if using a summary, but mailing Form 8453 with either the 1099-B or Form 8949 is still required.
How to enter a summary in lieu of individual transactions
If you're required to mail in forms 8949 and 8453, do so within 3 days after the IRS has accepted your e-file. Here's the mailing address:
Internal Revenue Service
Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254
Receipt and Control Branch
Austin, TX 73344-0254
In lieu of Form 8949, you can substitute copies of your year-end broker statements that show the individual transactions. You don't need to include unadjusted Box A or Box D transactions.
This is not a fix. Mailing hard copies of forms defeats the entire advantage of TurboTax. Between this and the W2c social security tax bug this year it is pretty clear that TurboTax has not received acceptable QA support this year.
Is there a fix in the work for these bugs? Can we get some kind of ticket to track this issue?