Mailing "statements" even when e-filing

[bobweissman]

Working through the 1099-B portion of my tax return, I come to a part which implies I must mail paper statements to the IRS even though I plan to e-file. I assume this is because cost basis was not originally reported to the IRS? (This is from a hedge fund I liquidated in 2018.)

It's not clear to me what a "statement" is. Does it mean the 1099-B I received from the hedge fund? Or do they actually mean a monthly statement (which I didn't save and are no longer available online because the account is closed)?

This is what the TT help says:

Mailing Instructions

Take a moment to double-check that your statements are complete. For each sale listed, there should be:

 - A Description
 - Date Acquired
 - Date Sold
 - Sales Price
 - Cost Basis
 - Gain or loss for each sale
 - A sale category based on how the sale was reported to you and the IRS

In some uncommon cases, there will be an adjustment code and adjustment amount.

NOTE: 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.

Here's how to mail your statements:

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 xxxxx-xxxx

If you are not e-filing, then mail your statements with your entire tax return to your local IRS office.

[TomYoung · Accepted solution]

What you did was you told TurboTax that you'd enter your 1099-Bs in "summary fashion".  In other words, you have hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands, of trades an instead of listing each trade out on multiple Forms 8949 you'll simple enter "summary" numbers - basically the sum of all proceeds and the sum of all cost bases - and mail in all the detail - every single trade - to the IRS along with Form 8453.  One way or the other the IRS wants to see each and every trade.  Whatever you send in most adhere closely to the "official" Form 8949; that form lists for each trade the information you've quoted above.  Many 1099-Bs these days do follow those guidelines.

Maybe you didn't understand this - you do have to click through a bit of "On Demand Tax Guidance" to gain this understanding - and simple clicked that option without understanding the consequences.

If you only have one or a handful of trades then I'd suggest deleting the trades and staring over with the "Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other" interview this time telling TurboTax "I'll enter one sale at a time" and entering that one or handful of trades individually.

Tom Young

[bobweissman]

That isn't exactly what happened, but you're on the right track. I imported all my 1099 info from my brokerages, so all the brokerage sales are reported individually, lot by lot, except this one which contained a minor error.

In this fund, there were 3 lots sold, each of which was imported into TT separately, but with "summary" indicated for unknown reasons. I was easily able to change them to individual sales by copying the info from my paper 1099-B.

So thanks for steering me in the right direction. I'm no longer seeing the "mail a statement" message.