ETF Generating a K-1

Discussion in 'Taxes and Accounting' started by Henderson Trader, Aug 26, 2015.

  1. UVXY is one of the ETF's that generate a K-1 for people owning the security. Would a day trader who always closes the day flat with no positions receive the K-1. How would the reporting organization know if someone owned the ETF for a matter of minutes?
     
  2. sprstpd

    sprstpd

    Most ETFs will generate a K-1 with actual numbers on it only when you hold overnight. In other words, if you are always flat at the end of the day, you will receive a K-1 with your transactions, but the numbers in Part III, boxes 1 through 20 will be all zeros. That has been my experience after trading hundreds of K-1 generating securities over the past decade.

    Note that there was one instance of an ETF that I did not hold overnight which generated a non-zero K-1. I do not understand how that happened but I just reported it as they had generated it. I suspect the ETF has some leeway in how it reports its numbers. If I had to guess, this particular one probably pro-rated based on the number of days you held the ETF. But the vast majority of them will only generate a non-zero K-1 if you hold overnight.
     
  3. dealmaker

    dealmaker

    Almost all prop traders get K-1 thus I doubt you will have an issue...