Self-Employed for Securities & commodity exchanges

[perfect10000]

Good morning.

My spouse actively trades stocks and options. We filed taxes as self-employed under "Securities & Commodities Exchanges." Since 1099-B is reported separately, how can we make this income link to our self-employment income?

Additionally, if active traders can't be considered self-employed, how can we report our trading expenses (computers, software, subscriptions, etc.) for tax purposes?

[RobertB4444 · Accepted solution]

Your income is reported on schedule D just like anyone else doing any trading.  Expenses are entered on schedule C even though income is not posted there.  You can't take a deduction for commissions and other costs of trading - you have to adjust prices and bases for that.

Here is the IRS instructions on all of this.  I'm assuming based on what you wrote that your spouse qualifies to be a self-employed trader but make sure that you read over this stuff to double check.  

@perfect10000