Alanm, Thanks for the insight. I was trying to figure out how the US-stock "1099 Reported" trade total on the annual statement could be less than the 1099-B figure. I'll examine manually entered trades as well as cancelled trades. I also have Toronto Stock Exchange trades and IBIS trades, both of which are also marked "1099 Reported". Does anyone know if trades of stocks on foreign exchanges are included in the 1099-B figure? By the way, inputing IB's monthly statements in to TradeLog, the IBIS trades were fine except that they were calculated as if the US$/Euro was at parity, and the Canadian trades were totally messed up, with wildly wrong trade sizes (perhaps the columns did not match the program).
range: Multi-currency accounting is "challenging" v77: My comments about using summary numbers were mainly from my experience as a short-term trader. That is, the vast majority of my trades are intra-day. As you point out, the different long-term/short-term categories for swing trades, dividends, etc. necessitate more detail, since they are used with different categories. I do disagree that you should provide the detail of each trade unless the number is reasonably small. The only time a human will ever look at that detail is if their algorithm kicks you out for examination, in which case the examiner would simply ask for the detail if they need it. I don't see how they could fault you for not sending them reams of paper every year, when they won't look at it 99.9% of the time. As far as reporting the same sales as the 1099 shows, it's something to strive for, but you can't always do it because of shorts carried past the end of the year if you don't elect MTM, or if you traded options, or other reasons (like the broker being wrong). I usually try to have a line that shows what the broker reported, and the related basis, and then a separate line that summarizes any other transactions and their related basis. Since option trades aren't reported anyway, it seems that anyone who trades options will face this issue, so it can't be too much of a red flag. And of course, you must have spreadsheets (or Tradelog or whatever) to back this all up if it's questioned.
hi, I am looking at my "Yearly Transaction Summary" for 2003. It looks a lot different compared to the year 2002, IMO. I have stocks (including some short sales), options and future trades. I have difficulty in making sense out of it. Can anyone please clarify the following points? a) In the stocks table, Can I assume all the rows, with the column "1099 reported" BLANK, are my buy transactions. As pisspotpete suggested, Do I have to manually add all the "buy transactions and commissions" and check the difference with the TOTAL of 1099 reported. This difference will be my profit/loss. Also should the TOTAL amount under "1099 reported" in the table, match the "BOX 2 - TOTAL GROSS PROCEEDS LESS COMMISSIONS" given in 1099 form. It doesn't in my case, unless I am missing something. b) In options table, can I be sure the Total amount minus TOTAL commissions gives me my profit/loss. If this is true, it is simple IMO. c) In futures I have two tables - one titled "Futures" and the other titled " Gain/Loss Prior Open Futures Positions". The futures table has commissions, while the other one has no column for commissions. Can I assume the sum of 1099 reported in the two tables minus commissions is my profit/loss. Also should this net amount match the 1099 commodity amount. The amount doesn't match, unless I am doing something wrong. d) In 1099 commodity form, I see lines 1a and 1b, one pre 05/05/2003 and one post 05/05/2003. Is the total profit/loss is sum of both lines. I am asking this because - my accountant is not very familiar with futures transactions. Is gainskeeper (other than Quicken) or some other software will do all the work for me, if I input/send the 2003 Yearly transaction summary. I appreciate any help. jt
hi, Instead of scratching my head over the "Yearly Transaction summary" numbers, I decided to go through all my monthly statements and find my net profit/loss for the year. It is difficult to believe, but the net profit/loss I have, matches the net profit/loss based on all my IB transactions. It even matches the the "Gross proceeds less commissions" given in 1099. In brief, I finished my tax preparations for the year 2003. I still couldn't determine how IB got those numbers in annual statement. Any way, I will worry again about it again, Feb/March 2004. Thanks for your patience, jt
jt: See my post earlier in this thread about why the year-end statement may be wrong: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=451130#post451130