Needs review help for expired put options

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 3, 2024
4 replies
5 views

Turbo tax is flagging PUT options that expired worthless with ZERO cost basis as Needs review. Upon editing what do we select for "Sold or Expired"? Since the put option expired worthless and whatever premium received was proceeds but upon selecting Expired option it ZEROs out the proceeds, which I think is not correct. Please advise how to proceed with reviewing these transactions.

Mike9241

Level 15

since these are short sales what are you using for the dates

i use for date acquired - date position closed/expired

for sales date I use sold and date position opened - not expired (a contradiction because they did not expire on the date the short position was opened.

i also reversed dates but still had to use "sold" to avoid the proceeds box from disappearing. evidently with Turbotax expired can only be used with long positions

also for short sales cost can not be blank. 0 is required for those expiring.

ravi303Author

Level 2

yes dates are exactly as you mentioned to make it very clear let me provide one example of a cash secured put option that was expired,

For example, PUT VZ MAY 00036.000 VERIZON COMMUNICATNS COM EXP 05-05-2023

This was expired as below,

Acquisition Date Liquidation Date Quantity Acquisition Price Acquisition Cost Liquidation Price Liquidation Amount Gain/Loss
04/26/2023 (Short Term) 05/08/2023 -1 $0.14 -$14.34 $0.00 $0.00 +$14.34

In 1099-B

1b. Date Acquired 1c. Date Sold or Disposed 1d. Proceeds 1e. Cost Basis 1f. Accrued Market Discount 1g. Wash Sale Loss Disallowed Gain or Loss
05/08/23 04/26/23 14.34 0.00 0.00 0.00 14.34

So if you see the proceeds are 14.34 but once we try to edit because of needs for review, I select the trade as option and then I select that as Expired, the proceeds goes away and upon editing proceeds becomes ZERO. And of course the cost basis is ZERO as you can see above in 1099-B

So, I am not sure how to fix this, I would appreciate if someone when through this issue and is able to help

DavidD66

Level 15

For short puts that expired, instead of using "Expired" as the closing date, enter the actual expiration date. You can also report your 1099-B using Summary Totals by Category. You won't have to enter any dates. If you want to do that and you imported your 1099-B you will have to delete it. Restart the 1099-B entry process and indicate you will type it in yourself and indicate you want to enter category totals.

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firedrake123

Level 3

So this is frustrating. I have lots of needs reviews for expired option. And I can't clear anything. I tried sold/expired both, but it keeps saying needs review. How do i escalate this issue.

user17713700161

Level 2

Posted Feb 17,2026:

Had this same problem where an expired put had generated profit, but when choosing "expired", it just removes the gain box and doesn't count the gain toward income total.

I reached out to support (spent about 40 minutes with them) going over the issue and explaining the logic. They said this doesn't get transferred to what is actually filed with the IRS, and only acts as a sort of filtering for the entry (which is obviously wrong). The gentleman I spoke with said he'd never encountered this before, so I assume it's not a widespread issue, but has been going on for quite some time. He said he'd note the functionality, who knows if that will be true but maybe I will save someone the support call and googling for 20 minutes to find an answer.

I marked all mine as "sold" to keep the net gain in tact, which is the information that actually needs to be preserved for the IRS filing.

bipulh

Level 2

TT suggests that you delete your full import and enter the summarized value instead. What it doesn't tell you that if you have 'Wash Sale' and you prefer to enter a summarized filing, you will need to mail your 1099-B within 3 days of your e-file is accepted.
How was able to bulk update all for all 'Need Review' contract that expired with 0 value. Here is what worked for me.

1. Select all contract that has expired with 0 value and TT marked them as 'Need Review'
2. Click on 'Bulk Update'
3. Choose the followings
- Investment Type (Option )
- Date acquired ( Choose Date, Do not enter any value in the field, leave it empty)

- Sold ( Do not select expired, you sold your contract first and let it expired )

- Cost Basis ( Enter 0 )

Save changes. The 'Need Review' will disappear with that update. Do cross check those transaction to verify if the updates are done properly.

Note: This worked for me doesn't necessarily mean it would work for you. It also depends how your broker provides the data to the import script. I was able to import 2 different brokers and use this workaround. Good Luck.