IB - 1099 info for futures: commissions included?

IB provides a 1099-ish form summarizing futures gains/losses for the last year for use in doing taxes. It's not clear to me whether the line 4 amount, "commissions paid on futures", is included in the profit/loss figures, or whether I need to add that into the gain/loss I list on my tax return. Can anyone comment?

Thanks in advance,
-ECL

 

As I recall IB screwed this up last year. This is not exactly rocket science.

 

Here is a little ditty from IRS.gov:


Include on line 1 all gains and losses from
section 1256 contracts open at the end of
your tax year or closed out during the year. If
you received a Form 1099-B, Proceeds From
Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions, or
equivalent statement, include on line 1 the
amount from box 9 of each form. In column
(a), write “Form 1099-B” and the broker’s
name. List separately each transaction for
which you did not receive a Form 1099-B or
equivalent statement, or received a Form
1099-B that is not for your tax year.

This was taken from this weblink: (page 2)

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f6781.pdf

Don't know about you guys, but I do not have a box
9 on my IB 1099 futures statement.

I only have line 1,2,3 and 4.

I am pretty sure line 1 or 2 does not include commissions.

 

Form 1099B - Titled "Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange." This form reflects all proceeds received from SELL trades in STOCKS only. This includes sell trades resulting from the exercise or assignment of stock options. Buy trades are not reflected in the 1099B. The 1099B form is not a reflection of capital gains or Profit & Loss (P&L). It is the customer's responsibility to calculate gains or losses. No option trade information is included on the 1099B. Commissions have been deducted from the trade proceeds reported on the 1099B.


http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/retailAccount/sampleForms/form_1099.html

Now on the yearly statement you have columns:
Futures
Date Time Symbol Description Exchange Contracts T. Price S. Price Gain/Loss Comm Curr Base Total Code

The gain/loss does not include commissions, the commisson column shows the commision, and the base total amount = your base currency profit/loss INCLUDING commissions.

 

I would hope that trade proceeds only represent the total
sales without any commisions deducted from them. In figuring
out your cost basis, commisions from the buy and sell of the
security are added to the purchase price to get the buy figure
to put on your schedule D. The sell figure is whatever you sold
the security for. This is for securities.

Perhaps we should say the commisions have been excluded
from the trade proceeds on the 1099-B?

 

So def, are you saying that we add our commission cost to
the figure stated on IB's:

Line 1. Realized Futures Profit/Loss:

in order to come up the figure we should put on line 1 of
Form 6781 (Gains and Losses From Section 1256 Contracts and
Straddles? So the cost of the commisions would reduce the
profit or add to the loss on that line?

And can I ask what the difference is between :

Line 1. Realized Futures Profit/Loss and
Line 2. Aggregate Futures Profit/Loss is?

On my statement they are both the same number.
The commission figure is on line 4. The commission figure
on line 4 is not included on line 1 or line 2.

 

I just quoted from the web site and looked at figures from the annual statement on my account. However, since my account is internal, I don't have access to W8's or 9's and thus can't tell for sure. Send a mail to the help desk, I believe specific people have been assigned to answer the questions.

 

def,

Thanks for assisting but I have to point out that every other FCM I've ever dealt with has managed to produce a 1099B for futures that gave you a net P/L to report. Why all the confusion with you guys? After reading your posts I'm still confused.

 

Did anyone ever get a definitive answer to this? I have spent a frustrating day e-mailing IB customer service and getting answers that seem to studiously avoid directly answering the question.

 

help@interactivebrokers.com told me plainly that commissions were not included in the gain/loss figures, and I filed my return accordingly. Hope that's what you were looking for as well.