I once contacted the IRS with this question. They told me that I need to show each transaction. I kind of like Joetrader method so I guess I might try it. After all I have nothing to hide if they audit me.
To you guys, how do you get your total basis cost for the year without going line by line? I use Ameritrade's free gainskeeper (apex client) right now but if I move to IB, do they provide a net cost basis for the year?
I have Gainskeeper since 2001 and it works great. If you are an apex member then you can generate a schedule d wash sell adjusted for free.
yeah, but like i previously stated, I'm planning to move away from Ameritrade to Interactive brokers so I'm wondering how I could easily generate my total basis cost for the year.
ebo's misguided. i've been doing one ling accounting with robert green for 6 years. you think the irs wants to see 500,000 and $2 billion of sales. my 1099's reached 2800 pagfes before. one line is the most accurate accounting one earth. all you do is take your balance jan1st and take your balance dec 31st. so lets say your balance jan 1st in matd account is 50k and dec 31st its 70k so you made 20k. now add in all your withdrawels out of account lets say its 40k so now you have 20k plus 40k thats 60k. next subtract all interest and dividends so lets says thats 1k now you're at 59k. next add back margin interest which is deducted from account so thats another 500 so you're at $59,500. l;ets say your total sales are 1,000,000. that means your total cost is $940,500. so on sch d its total sales of $1,000,000 - total cost of $940,500 which equals a gain of $$59,500 on sch d. now its true the irs could ask for all your trades but highly douubtful so to be safe elect mark to market. man back int he 90's i'd spend 5 days doing my sch d and it wasn't near as accurate as thius. your total sales will alwsy be the same as the irs's. you work backwards on this from total sales on back so your sales are always the same as irs's. mtm aqccounting is not subject to the wash rule and its all one line accounting
My Prime Broker sends me a neat little report now month end and year end! It gets stapled right to my return. I do not deal with it any more. Gainskeeper is just fine for NON MTM traders. Joey try paragraphs next round.
being an MTM though, i have to prove to the IRS that I'm a real trader if I get audited right? I hold an engineering job but have time to make around 3-5 trades a day. It may not seem much but come tax time next year, I'll have to spend tons of time just to do the wash sale stuff. I think I'll do the 1 line item thing next year but try to flush out any holdings by Dec 31st. Do you guys know if the wash sale rule apply if you sold at a loss on Dec 31st and bought back on Jan 1st? (hypothetically speaking).
I sent in 300 pages in 1996 with all data, and got a note back that said, "Do not send us detail, if we want it, we will ask for it." since 96 it is just one line per account. Bandit
Really??? That's great. I'm one of the laziest people come tax time and this is the best news I've heard in a while (other than AMLN going up 27% ) To everyone who replied: Thanks a bunch! I looked at the Mark to market type reporting but I'm too much of a puss to have the IRS audit me.
It's my understanding from talking with active traders who do not trade through an entity (LLC, corp., LP), that getting audited is pretty much inevitable. I have also heard that it's not a big deal provided that you're not doing any hanky-panky.