Computerization is great --- unless it doesn't work! I just finished going through almost a thousand manual trade entries comparing IB's Schedule D with actual trade printouts from IB and my software-generated Schedule D -- because gross sales proceeds on my Schedule D did not match what IB reported to the IRS on my Form 1099-B. I probably spent 60 plus hours doing this. My Schedule D now matches the Form 1099-B -- but only because I had to manually change several reverse trade dates, i.e., reverse the buy and sell dates to what they actually were. I received only lip service from IB when I asked for their assistance in finding the errors. They maintained in several communications I had with them that their database was correct and, consequently, all reports from their database were by necessity error free. NOT! IB is a great broker, but they are bottom-of-the-rung in accurately maintaining their database -- as well as in customer service. I can't imagine how anyone who daytrades, with perhaps thousands of transactions per year, is able to reconcile IB's tax reporting.
i notice and post same thing days after they release tax forms for 2006. i also report the issue to IB,open ticket, got respond -"we will review the issue and respond to you quickly" but never come back to me with any answer, so i close it after week or so. i also submit screenshots of tax forms from my accounts with errors highlighted and comments directly to one of IB programmers that i personally know, and he assure me that he will pass it to appropriate department, but also no one never comeback to me. same here, my tax forms and their 1099 will match now(done my taxes already by myself), but if IRS request details and i simply print forms from IB account i will be in serious trouble, because my 1099 and 1040 did not match at all big time. i'm surprised, that very few people notice this.
bob your 1040 sales must match ib's. ib's sch d is not neccesarily to turn in to irs. i'm sure they didn't compute things like option splits or if one were a mtm trader the calculations would be off. get as good tax package like gainskeeper and download the monthly statements. it works great
i can tell you where IB having problem with me in particular- to make my cash works a bit better i buy and hold some corp. bonds from time to time since they start offer them in 2005, but for some reason they(IB) sum bonds proceeds on 1040,when you buy same bond few times during same year. my 1099 is correct,but 1040 procceds are off, because they put sum of all bonds purchases right next to each purchase. example: you buy 10 bonds of xyz worth 10K on 2/1/2006, then you buy another 10 bonds of xyz on 3/1/2006. bonds mature on 12/15/2006. in proceeds column for each bond on 1040 they(IB) put 20K on each bond. so you have purchase price 10K,proceeds 20K at maturity for each purchase. PnL is correct
I trade stocks only -- which should simplify tax accounting from all standpoints. But if IB has an inaccurate database for your account, none of the Schedule D software will correct it. Garbage in, garbage out. And you might not even know the difference if you didn't keep a personal log of your trades, including profit/loss, so you'd have an idea of your bottom line at year's end.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but even with futures you must mathematically confirm data sent to the IRS. Same difference, no?
Just got around to working on my taxes and find I am in same position as the starter of this thread. 1099 does not match sch d. All I had were daytrades in stocks the whole year. No bonds, no options, nothing. Now I have to go back and find their error. Thanks a lot, IB.
I finally found the errors after more than one hundred hours of research. IB had the buy and sell dates reversed on several trades. You think they care at all about how much work their customers must do because of THEIR errors? Makes one wonder about their overall accountability of one's funds if they can't even get trade dates correct in their database.
As joeyata1 said, the important thing is that the proceeds of sales match on 1099 form from IB. And as long as P/L is correct, you can ignore IB's Sch-D if you don't like it. I found that IB's Sch-D adjust cost basis for stocks, i.e. to include options prem (stock being put or called away), resulting in different P/L from my own record, which separates stocks and options completely and reports them separately (after all brokers are not required to report options trades to IRS). So I don't use IB's sche-D. This is the first year that IB's doing this for its customers, so I wouldn't be too hard on IB which is not exactly known for customer service besides providing a solid trading platform.