How to Convert IB's Form 8949 CSV File Into an TXF File? No TXF File Available for Download.

Discussion in 'Taxes and Accounting' started by Cyrix, Jun 30, 2020.

  1. Cyrix

    Cyrix

    When I tried to download the TXF file for Form 8949, I received an error message “The worksheet which IB prepares to assist with completing Form 8949 is compiled in an IRS compliant format and may contain transactions having IRS gain/loss adjustment codes which TurboTax does not support."

    There is no TXF file for download. The CSV file, however, is available.

    I have tens of thousand of transactions in 2019 which makes manually inputting them into Turbotax impossible.

    Is there a way to convert the CSV file into a TXF file so that I can import it into Turbotax?

    Thanks!
     
    #1     Jun 30, 2020
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    samovar likes this.
  2. Arnie

    Arnie

    #2     Jun 30, 2020
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  3. Cyrix

    Cyrix

    Thank you.
     
    #3     Jul 3, 2020
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  4. samovar

    samovar

    I would not trust EasyTXF. Look on their site, the CSV input format they want completely omits the adjustment code that IB provides:

    [​IMG]

    Anyway, I've compared EasyTXF with a paid ($5) alternative that has clearly had much more thought put into it - InvestoTek Excel2TXF.

    The good news is that the output has been almost functionally identical for my ~500 trades:
    • EasyTXF trims one insignificant zero decimal ($123.40 -> $123.4). I've corrected that manually.
    • Excel2TXF keeps a what I think is an invalid "sh" (short for "shares") designation in the P field:[​IMG]
    The bad news is that they generated different codes for those three transactions. EasyTXF returned N323, while Excel2TXF returned 321. This is the CSV:

    Data,3 sh MNTPX 13SEP19,VARIOUS,07/25/2019,"43,534.70","43,588.07",W,61.66,8.29,
    Data,3 sh MNTPX 13SEP19,VARIOUS,07/26/2019,"43,281.98","43,489.58",BW,213.58,5.98,
    Data,3 sh MNTPX 13SEP19,VARIOUS,07/30/2019,"43,433.38","43,497.52",BW,70.12,5.98,​

    According to this IB article,
    • W stands for "nondeductible loss from a wash sale"
    • B stands for "The basis reported on box 3 of Form 1099-B requires clarification"
    Since W is supported by TurboTax, I don't know why they'd generate different TXF codes for that first line.

    And the worst news is that neither software warned at all about the elephant in the room - codes that TurboTax doesn't support. I have about 20 "B" codes in my CSV, which IB says TurboTax doesn't support. The very reason IB no longer supplies .TXF files for some traders. This is the message I got when I attempted to download the TXF:

    "The worksheet which IB prepares to assist with completing Form 8949 is compiled in an IRS compliant format and may contain transactions having IRS gain/loss adjustment codes which TurboTax does not support. As proper transaction coding is essential to the filing of a true and complete Form 8949, TXF file export is not provided in those instances where the file contains a code which TurboTax doesn't allow to be imported. In those instances, a file download error message will appear and an alternative TurboTax supported method may be used. Please refer to KB2026 for additional details."​

    I haven't tried TXF Creator yet, but it doesn't look any better. About as old as the others (2009 copyright year, Windows XP screenshots), and no mentions of current IB/TurboTax versions.

    Has anyone checked with their tax professional about this?
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2020
    #4     Oct 1, 2020
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  5. samovar

    samovar

    I asked the author of Excel2TXF about this. He said, "N321 is Box A, Short-Term. N323 is Box D, Long-Term. From your file, everything should be N321."

    So as I suspected, EasyTXF is wrong. Be careful out there.
     
    #5     Oct 2, 2020
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