I transferred brokerages last year, and received a 1099B from the old brokerage, does this mean my transfer is considered sale of my stocks?

[owl-feathers-inc]

I switched from Sofi to Fidelity, and had Fidelity handle the whole transfer. I did not sell from Sofi then buy back in on Fidelity. I received a 1099B* from Sofi, but it looks like I have to report it as sales - proceeds/cost basis/gain and loss. This doesn't seem correct.

[SwampyJS · Accepted solution]

It depends. If your brokerage was able to transfer the actual securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, EFT's, etc.) to the new broker, you likely did not have a sale.

The more frequent scenario is that some or all of the securities in the old brokerage account would be sold and cash transferred to the new brokerage. In that case, it is likely that you have one or more sales to report.

Brokers are required to send you a FORM 1099B. That will give you the information you need. If you did not receive a 1099B, you should log into your account with the broker and look for a copy of your 1099B or call your broker for the information.

[AnnetteB6]

You should probably contact Fidelity since they handled the transfer to verify exactly how it was done.  Yours is not the first time I've seen someone describing a similar situation.

Either way, Form 1099-B transactions need to be reported on your tax return since the IRS has also received a copy.

[owl-feathers-inc]

Thank you Swampy.

I contacted both brokerages and didn't really get a clear answer from either. Looking back through all my statements as far as I can tell several of my stock positions did not go through the transfer system, or only partially. I survived tax season thankfully lol, I was just caught off guard as I didn't realize that was something that could happen.