Am I missing items in Form 8949? (How do I sanity check?)

[befuddled4]

I am confused by what TurboTax decides to list in 8949. It is listing only some of my trades, but not all of them. This is my first year trading and first year with TurboTax, so I am not sure what is correct. 

I have read through some of the other questions on this topic, and one thing that is mentioned is trades without any adjustments that have their basis reported, do not need to be listed. But looking at what TurboTax is choosing to list for me, I didn't see the adjustment box on my 1099-B for many of these that TT picked. (And I'm not clear if/when they wouldn't have a cost basis.)

The most noticeable pattern I see is that all the listed items have net losses or 0. I never see a profitable trade listed.

Also, as an example, I had a bull-[product key removed]d that I closed for a profit. I see the short leg listed with its loss, but the profitable long leg is not listed on 8949.

I checked the imported 1099-B (from TD Ameritrade), and it seems that all the transactions are there. (I have a lot, so it is really hard to be completely sure.) But using the bull call debit spread example, both of those legs are present in this list. So I am confused why only one of the legs gets listed in 8949.

Can somebody help explain what I'm seeing and explain to me how I can do a sanity check to validate if TT is doing the right thing for my case. And if not, how can I fix this?

[GeorgeM777 · Accepted solution]

There may not be anything to fix if the gross totals (whether a gain or loss) on Form 8949 and Schedule D match what you see on your 1099-B.  Do you see any discrepancies between what has been reported on your 1099-B with regard to total gain/loss, whether short-term or long-term, and what is reported on your Form 8949 and Schedule D?

Also, are any of the option spreads you effected a section 1256 contract?  Section 1256 contracts include nonequity options and those transactions are reported on Form 6781.  

@befuddled4

[fanfare]

TurboTax has changed and  it may not show the details of a Box A transaction even if you enter it yourself or import it.

This is undocumented and stymies filers who want there transaction detail on their filed tax return.

check your subtotals for accurate final results.

[befuddled4]

I think I see a small discrepancy, but it could be from me not understanding this well enough. I actually have multiple brokerages, so I made a new test tax return using just my TD Ameritrade statement, which has the majority of my transactions.

For Short-Term Proceeds:

TD Ameritrade's 1099-B tells me Type A Proceeds are 767,119.34. This is also the total Short Term Proceeds because Type B and C are 0. There are also 571.07 in Wash Sale Disallowed.

TurboTax for Schedule D 1a  and 1b for Proceeds puts 

766,920 and 202. 

If I add those up, that is 767122, which is a 2.66 difference. 

Could this be caused by how TurboTax rounds values, and thus ignorable? Or is this a real discrepancy? Or am I missing something else that goes into this calculation?

(The Cost Basis section looks okay, and the Long Term section looks fine too.)

I do have values listed for Section 1256 Contracts. I have

26.41 in realized gains, and -469.50 in unrealized losses, creating an aggregate of -443.09. These numbers are too big for that 2.66 puzzle.

@GeorgeM777 

[DawnC]

It is most likely a rounding issue causing the $2.66, especially since you have so many transactions.    Quoting tax expert ChristinaR here - 

''Rest assured, this rounding difference will not unnecessarily flag your return.  In fact, the IRS absolutely allows it to make figures easier to deal with and lessen the chance for arithmetic errors, as long as all amounts are rounded consistently (which the program does for you). 

Per IRS instructions: "You may round off cents to whole dollars. If you do round to whole dollars, you must round all amounts. To round off amounts to the nearest whole dollar, drop amounts under 50 cents and increase amounts from 50 to 99 cents to the next dollar. For example, $1.39 becomes $1 and $2.50 becomes $3. If you have to add two or more amounts to figure the amount to enter on a line, include cents when adding and only round off the total."

In Forms mode, I tested whether an override was possible on Form 8949 to include cents in the total.  Unfortunately, the program will default back to a whole dollar to be transferred to the Schedule D, so you will not be successful in attempting to manually change the amounts.  But again, this rounding will not cause any undue problems for the IRS, in and of itself. ''