Import from financial institution

[allanjohannesen]

When I attempted import of my investment account, I saw a warning pop up that it was more than 1000 entries and TurboTax might be "slow". Well, I figured I'd live with it.

The import finished and TurboTax was dead. I clicked on the "File" menu and the status bar said "(not responding)". That's beyond "slow", that's "dead".

I looked for how to submit a large number of transactions, and I got

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/e[product key r...

which says that 100,000 transactions can be submitted PER ACCOUNT. That's an outright lie. I've seen that the number is 1,000, or maybe 1,500. I guess nobody knows for sure. Maybe the limit is based on the phase of the moon, or your accountant's shoe size. You would think that if they programmed it for some maximum that it would know the limit was reached, protect itself, and issue a message.

Also, that page doesn't say how to submit the PAPER records to the IRS, given that TurboTax can't handle them. You can find the address from TurboTax itself when you enter the summary data about the account.

[HelenC12]

TurboTax is equipped to handle around 10,000 individual transactions per brokerage account.  However, online performance may deteriorate as you get closer to this limit.

You'll enter the summary info instead of each individual transaction. Your brokerage statements should include a summary of your transactions, grouped by sales category, for example, Box A short-term covered or Box D long-term covered.

TurboTax will generate Form 8453. You can still e-file your return, but you'll need to mail a paper copy of your 1099-B to the IRS along with Form 8453, which you can print from your online account or from the desktop software within three (3) business days after you have received acknowledgement that the IRS has  your return. 

Mail the forms to the IRS: 

Internal Revenue Service
Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254
Receipt and Control Branch
Austin, TX 73344-0254

Select your product below on how to enter the summaries in TurboTax:

TurboTax Online

TurboTax CD/Download

Instructions for TurboTax CD/Download users with adjusted cost basis

[allanjohannesen]

Thanks so much, Helen.

I just downloaded the CSV of the data from my Fidelity Investments account and it contains ~1,320 detail records.

The CSV has "summary" and "total" lines, too. I would guess that these don't contribute to the count that TurboTax sees on import, but even if they did, the total is ~1,830.

Importing the account causes TurboTax to go braindead. e.g. a click on the "file" menu does not display the menu. The top bar reports "(not responding)". A task display shows heavy CPU for maybe half a minute. Then it goes calm, but still doesn't show the menu. Another click on a menu shows the same result. Lots of CPU, but no display. I think that is "braindead". This malfunctioning is probably due to memory corruption.

Yes, I see that I will need to send paper to the IRS, given that TurboTax cannot handle it. The web help page that I quoted gives the inaccurate maximum, but doesn't give the mailing address, which you helpfully provided.

It would be nice if that page had the mailing address in it, too. Better, an accurate maximum might be good. Something like 500 or so. Something truthful.

[allanjohannesen]

I think that TurboTax changed a bit since my last posting. Now, it says that it can't handle the import before I even specify which account to use. i.e. right after I authenticate to Fidelity, TurboTax tells me to mail the 1099B and stops right there. Previously, it only failed after I selected, and imported, the "large" 1099B.

I had some thoughts about the situation and came to the conclusion that I could enter summary info for short term and long term transactions which had been reported to the IRS in TurboTax. Since it was reported, they do not need the detail.

That leaves only the detail on the transactions which had NOT been reported to the IRS. I searched the 188 page PDF of my 1099B for "long-term transactions" and found the 34 unreported transactions on pages 113 and 114. I searched the 222 pages of my wife's report and found the 9 unreported transactions on page 128.

So, instead of submitting the 400 pages, I only had to send 3. Better than that, I found I could submit the transactions individually in TurboTax. I had to select "one sale at a time" and enter the detail.

With this done, I don't have to submit any separate papers with the return!

Entering the 43 transactions was a bit tedious, but I was pleased to have this option.

I have a few suggestions for the data entry on "Tell us about your 1099-B", if anyone at TurboTax is listening.

1) When clicking to enter, it would be helpful to default to "one at a time" if the last on was "one at a time".

2) In the data entry, it would be helpful if the prior stock name was the default. In my case, all 34 were the same stock (well, fund). Yes, I just pasted it, but it would have saved time. In my wife's 9 entries only 3 were the same stock.

3) in the data entry, it would be nice if the category was defaulted to the prior one as well. In my case, all 43 sales were "long term not reported", which is 6 down-arrows in the category menu.

In order of convenience and time-savings, I suggest the priority is (1), (3), (2) for the changes.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for updating your post with you solution. My TT PC version is dead as well after I imported the 1099-B. I guess I have to go back to the backup I created before the import. Looks like there is no real help available for this mess.