hey guys, sorry to bug you all but i searched the site and couldnt come up with an answer to my question. I want to know how many schedule d's can you send the irs? i mean if you have over 200 trades, thats a butt load of D's, couldnt i just sum up the losses or gains and just say that on 1/1/02 i bought 100 xyz and then sold it during the year for a net loss or profit (sum of all my trades) and just show the actual loss or gain? and then maybe add a note saying that detailed transaction history available upon request would that work or do i have to go through all the freaking trades and list them? i know there is software for this but well you know the story. I had several brokers and cant load all of it easily. dont want to mess with that. so any ideas if i can do it that way, just listing one transaction showing a short term gain/loss or do i have to type out each individual transaction?? many thnx guys.
I post a total of the trades, wins and losses, then make a note saying "Trade logs available". I haven't had any problems.
I've inlcude a summary line for each trading account on Schedule D and used the dates for the first trade. I've then attached a summary of all trades right after Sch D.
coool, that just made my day. so just some sort of a brief summary and then a note that records are available should be fine. thnx guys, drinks are on me if you're ever in orlando.
Janko, Hate to spoil your day but I personally contacted the IRS on this subject and they said you cannot do that. You need to show each individual trade specifically. But they said it's ok to print them using a capital gains report or any other method of listing them. Just call the header D1 Continuation Sheet. It's really not that hard once you keep track of the trades in Quicken. It took me no more than a few minutes to do my Schedule D. That's what they told me, not sure if you'd get a different story from another agent.
hmmmmm, well i guess this could be a problem for me as i want to file my return on line with hr block, and their system is set up so that you have to enter each date and purchase price etc... so that could be a real pain in the a$$ to do 200+ trades. i think i might take my chances and just show a total and if they audit me i have records to prove that what i indicated was correct, and if they want to spank me for not filling out the shcedule D like they want, well i guess i'll take my chances. but thnx for checking on that, i really appreciate it.
Well MRWSM, I hope you don't make a habit of taking as gospel the words of any low-level beaurocrat that happens to be answering the phone. To my knowledge there is no penalty for not listing each trade individually - only penalty for not paying enough taxes, regardless of what some schmoe is telling you over the phone. It is a fact that a large percentage of the IRS' phone guidance is erroneous anyway! I've summarized in the past. As long as you can support your tax return with detailed back-up during an audit, and you did in fact pay an appropriate amount of tax, the IRS isn't going to touch you. Do the right thing & pay taxes, but don't sweat the nonsense.
My CPA makes me list every trade on Schedule D. I've got one on a spreadsheet, but it still takes a lot of time to list 200 trades.
I print mine off the capital gain report in MS Money. Then run them through the printer again with word to put header info on top. Bert Never been questioned.
I agree, don't sweat the small stuff. My CPA specializes in trading issues, and has never had a problem with summarizing a trading account. The absolute worst that will happen is that you will get a note from the IRS asking for substantiation. They are probably happy not to get all the supporting documentation in any event.