I participated in a "cashless exercise" for stock options from a company I used to work with. They generated W2 that covers all income through this sale (sale price - exercise price - transaction fee is in box 1 of W2, no other W2 income since I don't work for them anymore). At the same time, 1099-B has cost basis that reflects only exercise price. Therefore, I need to make some adjustments to avoid double taxation as W2 income + gain via 1099-B.
Question - can I enter information for 1099-B manually with the correct cost basis that will result in Schedule D with (e) containing correct cost basis and no adjustment (g) or 8949 form at all? (this technically means 1099-B statement will have different cost basis vs. what I enter in Schedule D Part I (e) ) So can I skip 8949 at all in this case?
Or is it required to file 8949 and add (g) with an adjustment that will bring my gain to 0 as expected (since W2 covers all income from this stock transaction)?
I'm a bit confused since technically it appears that 8949 instructions suggest that I don't match Exception 1 and have to file 8949 "If all Forms 1099-B (or all substitute statements) you received show basis was reported to the IRS and no correction or adjustment is needed, you may not need to file Form 8949. See Exception 1 under the instructions for line 1, later." But some discussions mention that people sometimes file correct cost basis as is in a simpler method anyway - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-when-i-enter-adjusted-cost-basis-from-etrade-s...
My version: Home and Business 2021, Windows download
