Just finished filing. AFTER it tells me I need to fill out form 8949 and mail it in. How do I do this and why didn't TurboTax do this for me?

[AnthonyC · Accepted solution]

The answer below is going to assume that you choose to use the summary transaction method of reporting your 1099B transactions instead of entering individual sales.

Short Answer:  You do not really need to mail Form 8949, but you do need to mail your supporting statements, such as your brokerage statements (Form 1099B) and Form 8453.

When you use this summary method of reporting (i.e. you just entered your totals and not each individual transaction), in some cases, the IRS still wants the supporting details sent to them.  Its a trade-off.  The IRS makes it easier for you to fill your tax return by allowing summary reporting, but they still want the details sent to them in case they want to review.

Note:  In limited situations, you’re allowed to summarize investment sales without providing complete details.  If you are summarizing multiple investment sales that are either Box A sales or Box D sales, and there are no adjustments necessary (i.e. Code W for wash sales), then it is not necessary to mail in a statement with further details.  Turbotax will tell you this when your sales meet the criteria and will not prompt you to mail any statements.

So, if you are being prompted to mail further statements, Form 8453 says to attach Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets (or a statement with the same information), if you elect not to report your transactions electronically on Form 8949.

When you use the summary method, TurboTax only produces a Form 8949 with the summary totals that you entered, not the individual transactions, so the Form 8949 that is included in your return is NOT sufficient for this purpose.  (Though, you can include it with the mailing)

You need to use Form 8453 to mail the brokerage statements that show the details of your transactions.  Statements should include the following items for each transaction (these are usually reported on your Form 1099-Bs:(  

• Description
• Date acquired, 
• Date sold, 
• Sales price, 
• Cost basis, 
• Gain or loss for each sale,
• Sale category based on how the sale was reported to you and the IRS, and
• In some cases, there will be an adjustment code and adjustment amount. 

NOTE: As discussed above, any sales summaries that include only Box A or Box D sales, and which have no adjustments to gain/loss, do not need to be included on a statement mailed to the IRS. 

If you are e-filing your tax return, then mail your statements along with Form 8453 to: 

Internal Revenue Service

Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254 

Receipt and Control Branch 

Austin, TX 73344-0254 

[saranmillar]

It would be helpful if the software told you this BEFORE you finish filing. I would have gone back and changed it to individual instead of summary so that the entire thing could be e-filed.

[gsmyers]

Absolutely agree! When you choose to enter summary-style, it should warn you of the trouble that will cause!

[hboyd000]

Here I am filing my 2018 return, and it did the same to me. It definitely should tell you this BEFORE the taxes are filed.

[fanfare]

TurboTax changed the prompts a couple years ago  and not in a good way.
If you enter Summary info for any Sales Category other than A and D, or you enter a non-zero adjustment value for A or D, you will be making the mail-in election without realizing it. Then they added a small popup that most people ignore.

[jesuscr00]

This is absolutely terrible customer experience!!!! the same thing just happened to me. TurboTax really needs to make this more obvious. Now i am going to have to go over the trouble of mailing documents (and figuring out what to mail, which is also NOT explained properly) just because TurbotTax did not warn me that this would happen if I entered the summary in any obvious way. You need to fix this, this absolutely is not an acceptable customer experience, I am paying lots of money to TurboTax to make my life easier, not harder!

[wpmmhe]

How terrible! I just ran into this, and am furious. I have been using TurboTax for over 20 years, and I feel it has become an annual revenue generating tool with no enhancement and consideration for customer experience whatsoever. Another case in point; Premier used to have better support for ESPP, which was the exact reason I shell out $20 extra every year over Deluxe, but the support is gone now, and I need to figure out everything myself, and it's just the same as Deluxe.

[Anonymous]

Frustrating customer experience that could have been avoided by Turbotax making this clearer!

[sdfasfdf]

This is a terrible experience and don't seem like they want to fix it. Can you at least tell us which brokerage statements we need to mail? Only the ones that we summarized in 8949?

[edson-mart5]

I'm outside the country and have to somehow mail garbage to the IRS after wasting all my day paying them money. Never using TurboTax again.

[aston]

+1 to what everyone else said. TurboTax fail.

[cbernedo]

Agree - We should be warned about it. I also noticed Premier used to have better support. Not happy with TT this year.

[thepetagency]

Yes. Please warn about a paper mailing requirement BEFORE filing! Thx

[fanfare]

If you enter a summary, here's the warning you get:
"To finish reporting these sales, follow the mailing instructions."