Hi, I'm an Interactive Brokers (IB) user trying to create Schedule D with Gainskeeper software. I noticed my calculation for "Total Gross Proceeds" came out less than IB's calculation. I found out that three stocks I shorted in Year 2005 (ECOL, JUPM, & KTO) were included as Proceeds even though I covered those stocks in Year 2006. Is this mistake on IB or mine? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
They are proceeds! Just enter the "Cover" as a Buy and "Short Sale" as a sale and WHAM, you are good to go.
I don't think it is a mistake on IB. 1099 has your sales only. it is up to you to let IRS know what you did with them. If you have covered some of them in a later, you need to let IRS know that too so they don't get confused.
You do not have to differentiate "Short" vs "long" sales to the IRS. They do not care. It is fairly obvious on your schedule D that the sale occurred before the buy! Do you put "Post It" notes on your tax return? All the IRS gives a rat's ass is that your reported 1099 has the same proceed's number as the Schedule D. It amazes me how cheap some "trader's" are on here when it comes to tax preparation. For $500 you can have a VERY Reputable CPA prepare and sign your return, so you stay out of jail when you get audited. I am not talking about HR Block lowlifes.
I noticed that options sales are not reported in the 1099 gross proceeds number, but from what I understand they do belong on schedule D. So my number will not match the 1099 number from IB. Any idea how to reconcile that?
SSBob, options are not reported in 1099 so if u did stocks and options trades in year. Your 1099 will NEVER match your own gross sales. It is up to you to add theoptions sales to your gross sales and up to you to come up with the matching buys for those sales of options
OK, I just hope I don't run into trouble because the proceeds don't match. I've already got them all broken out, I'm just concerned they'll audit me because of the options trades. Not much I can do though..... SSB
Try paying an accountant, and then sleep better. It's deductible, and they will save you at least their cost. It actually sounds like you want to be audited!
SSB. I too had that concern when I first came i into that situation about the discrepancy 2-3 years back. As long as your sales are> than the brokers 1099. It would be worse if Broker says sales are 100K and u report 99K . You'd be reporting > broekr due to option sales. Bottom line is a long as you accurately line up all your buys and sales, the sales in your options would make you number > than the brokers number. You should be fine.