Trying to file an old tax return with missing schedule K1 from Energy Transfer Partners LP

[Clueless_in_Taxland]

Hello,

My brokerage statement is showing "PARTNERSHIP CASH DISTRIBUTIONS" from Energy Transfer Partners LP.

All those cash distributions were reinvested to the stock.

But I cannot retrieve the requisite schedule K1 or the From 1065. When I called the company's hotline, they told me that the Form 1065 for that given year is no longer available and that they CANNOT help me getting a copy of that old schedule K1 anymore.
How can I enter that information in Turbo Tax? I have been filing my taxes using Turbo Tax for over 24 years now And I never had issues and was able to figure everything on my own. But I'm totally clueless about this particular issue and would very much appreciate if someone explain to me in simple terms.

THANK YOU!!

[nexchap]

If TaxPackageSupport doesn't have it, you could try contacting Investor Relations at the company itself, or the accounting firm they use to prepare their K-1s.

[RobertB4444]

I'm a little unclear what information you are trying to enter into TurboTax.  I'm assuming that you want to enter in all the money that you reinvested into the stock in order to calculate your basis in the partnership in order to sell it.  In that case all of the K-1s showing those reinvestments would definitely come in handy.

You can create an account on the IRS website and get any tax documents with your name and social security number on them going back many years.  

Here's where to go to create an account.

@Clueless_in_Taxland 

[Clueless_in_Taxland]

Thank you Robert for getting to the heart of my question!!
To be honest, I am totally clueless about how to handle the PARNERSHIP CASH DISTRIBUTIONS amount I received from Energy Transfer LP under the NON-REPORTABLE TRANSACTIONS section in my 1099 brokerage statement.

I never owned any PARTNERSHIPS and I'm totally ignorant about the tax ramifications of PARTNERSHIPS and how to handle it in Turbo Tax.
I'm afraid I must report it in my tax return; correct? Since it was money I received (which was reinvested in the stock), I guess IRS needs to know about it, even though it was listed under the TRANSACTIONS WE DO NOT REPORT TO THE IRS section.

If I do need to report this cash distribution in my tax return, where do I report it in Turbo Tax?
Or, can I simply ignore reporting this cash distribution and wait until I see the stock?

Again, I thank you in advance for your thoughtful response!!

[Clueless_in_Taxland]

Thank you CHAMP!!
When I contacted Investor Relations, they referred me to https://www.taxpackagesupport.com/et.
I called them a second time at [phone number removed] and was told that they don't keep any tax document that's older than 3 years. When I mentioned about contacting their accounting firm, they gave me the same boilerplate answer.
I've emails Investor Relations, but I think they are going to come back to me with the same response.

So, I wonder if there is any way I can report the Partnership Cash Distributions without the K1 for that year???

Or, can I simply omit reporting the Partnership Cash Distributions as it was mentioned under TRANSACTIONS WE DO NOT REPORT TO THE IRS section in my brokerage statement?

[RobertB4444 · Accepted solution]

You don't have to report the distributions.  You only need to track them so that you are aware of the basis if you sell your interest in the partnership.  At least you need to track the amount that you are reinvesting.

@Clueless_in_Taxland 

[Clueless_in_Taxland]

Hello Robert,

So, what I understand from what you are saying is that the only time I need the K1s and figure out my basis is when I sell my ENERGY PARTNERS LP stock down the road and report the SELL event to the IRS?

And until that day, even if I own the stock for another 10 years,  I need NOT enter anything in Turbo Tax and I need not mention those partnership cash distributions in my tax filings???

Thanks again!!!

[nexchap · Accepted solution]

@Clueless_in_Taxland You get a K-1 from a partnership every year, and you have to enter that information into TT every year.  There can be items on the K-1 that impact your taxes each year, and there will be other items that carry over to future years.  If you haven't been entering the K-1s (based on your other posts it sounds like you haven't) you're going to have to amend prior returns.  If taxpackagesupport and IR aren't helping, the IRS account mentioned earlier may help.  Otherwise, I don't know how you'd track those old ones down.

On the partnership distributions specifically, which your brokerage is showing you, they aren't taxable as long as your basis is above 0.  But if you own a partnership long enough, your basis will go below 0 and then the they become taxable.  TT won't track your basis:  you have to do that, and you'd also have to report the distributions at that time.

Aside from the distribution, there are other items on the K-1 (partnership income, interest and dividends, etc) that must be reported in the year it occurred.  TT takes care of that when you complete the K-1 part of the interview.

[Clueless_in_Taxland]

Wow!!
Thank you very much for your detailed and comprehensive response!!
You have addressed all my concerns.

Please accept my deepest gratitude!!

Wish you the best!!!

[Clueless_in_Taxland]

This is good news with positive outcome!!

I like to thank CHAMP one more time!! You ROCK!!

As per CHAMP's recommendation, I emailed ET's Investor's Relations.

And they came through with flying colors!!
The response I received from ET's Investor's Relations was as following:

"Tax package support does not have access to Schedule K-1 database with records that's older than 3 years.  We have to reach out to a specific group at  our accounting firm and they can pull historical K-1s."

And after a few more back and forth emails, they enabled me to download a copy of the missing K1!!

I posted my message out of sheer desperation and as a distant long shot. Never in my dream did I realistically expected that I would get just the right advice and direction to find a breakthrough!!

The LORD sure works in mysterious ways!!!