I *KNOW* my trade reporting is correct. I *KNOW* to the penny how much tax I owe. I'm now waiting on continual changes by Penson to my 1099's to get them in sync with my trade activity. If Penson STILL doesn't have my 1099's in sync with my trade activity by April 17th (and maybe never due to their stupidity), is it OK to file my taxes with my known correct numbers? I know my info is correct & the taxes paid will be correct. I don't see why my personal taxes should be held hostage waiting for Penson or other clearing firms to get their 1099's exactly correct. maybe they never will have them correct for the 2011 tax year.
File an extension and include a payment for whatever tax you may owe (as you have calculated) and wait until the final papers are in order to file the final return. Don't just ignore the deadline because Penson are such f*k-ups. It is not worth the hassle/headache. The extension will give you an additional 6 months to get the paperwork in order. IRS Form 4868
There's no guarantee that any of the brokers will have correct 1099-B info for the 2011 tax year. If you file an extension, there's still a VERY good chance that your 1099-B's will STILL not match your trading history. At some point you have to decide whether to use your correct info from your trading history, or, file what you know is incorrect 1099-B info you receive from your brokers. Why isn't filling out the correct info & sending it in and letting the IRS get the updates from the 1099-B whenever each broker has updates the correct way to go? You don't have to send in the 1099-B forms from the brokers with your taxes. You just get a copy. The brokers keep sending new info to the IRS. Why is waiting the correct route? I've done my taxes already, but haven't sent them in, and there's a huge discrepancy between my correct numbers & the 1099-B's. But, that doesn't mean I should match the incorrect 1099-B's.
--I'm now waiting on continual changes by Penson to my 1099's to get them in sync with my trade activity.---- there is will be no sync. you don't have to file a copy of your 1099-B.,but you have to file 8949(based on which you calculate your PnL.) if i was using my 1099-B from IB to calculate PnL i would own taxes for over 10M in "profits",since they didn't print the basis cost for non covered securities on their 1099-B.
Every one is having this issue and the IRS either knows or will see this from the millions of fillings. Im filing my calculations.
I would go ahead and file. Wait and see if the IRS sends you a letter then you can respond. They are actually pretty reasonable to deal with and I wouldn't worry that this would cause a "full" audit. When you respond you just provide documentation of your trades and tell them Penson is in error. I'm sure many others will be doing the same. I only traded futures and I think they are still off. oh well.
You only trade futures and Penson still gave you an incorrect P/L number? I thought futures was the simplest and most error free intrument to trade as far as tax reporting?
What exactly IS a "full" audit? My tax returns are extremely simple outside the massive amount of trades I make. I give them all the trade detail. They have everything. I don't see why I would ever be audited since they have all my trade activity. What else could they possibly ask for when they have it all?
Jack ..sounds like you give enough info upfront to be ok. Some people are just afraid that if the IRS looks at one item, say your Charitable giving on ScA, they are more likely to ask for complete records of every listed action/transaction on the 1040. I've not seen them do that. A certain % is targeted for full audits and Sc C...EIC and certain other schedules are audited more frequently.