Tax Preparation

Discussion in 'Taxes and Accounting' started by optionable, Feb 15, 2011.

  1. sledged

    sledged

    Last year I just entered the total values of short term costs and proceeds and long term costs and proceeds. I figure this is all the IRS is looking for. They cant care about every single trade I did, if they see the figures match I dont think it should matter.
     
    #11     Feb 15, 2011
  2. to be legal per irs you must list every trade for equities.
     
    #12     Feb 15, 2011
  3. telozo

    telozo

    I used Simply Track for the last 3 years:
    http://www.vbssol.com
    and you can import your trades and it outputs the schedule D that you can just attach to your tax return. It does wash sales calculations too. I don't know about futures though, I only trade stocks.
     
    #13     Feb 15, 2011
  4. +1 for tradelog as spindr0 said. In my opinion, the best solution is tradelog + turbotax. For those afraid of an audit, turbotax offers a service for $40 that will help you with the IRS in case of an audit. This could be a steal at 10x the price. Strongly suggest looking through the tradelog website for general trader tax info. Disclaimer: I receive absolutely no compensation from tradelog or turbotax - I pay them every year.

    Or you could just trade 1256 cars and only have to report the net gain/loss:)

    http://www.tradelogsoftware.com/
     
    #14     Feb 16, 2011
  5. sprstpd

    sprstpd

    Except that Turbotax has limitations when it comes to how big of a number you can input in any one field. It tells you to upgrade to their super expensive versions in order to handle a number larger than what they want you to handle. I call that a ripoff considering that implementing fields that can handle larger numbers is absolutely trivial.
     
    #15     Feb 16, 2011
  6. tjmxxx

    tjmxxx

    I would love to hear what anyone thinks of "Simply Track", and or "Track Your Trades". I am debating between both of them. I want to do taxes myself this year.

    Track Your Trades was developed by a PhD., and what attracts me is than unlike TradeLog, you pay only one time and you own the software for life. It also has a choice of wash sale tracking nonsense for non professionals, or Mark to Market, which I need.

    Why would I want to keep paying TradeLog if I do not have to?

    www.trackyourtrades.com Anyone?
     
    #16     Feb 16, 2011
  7. heech

    heech

    Didn't the OP say he's only trading options/futures? If so, these are IRS section 1256 contracts, and you only need to report the net gain/loss as presented by your broker on your 1099-B.
     
    #17     Feb 16, 2011
  8. uptickk

    uptickk

    If the options are on futures then I believe you are correct. If they are on equities that are not broad based indices then the OP is out of luck (From my understanding).

    Or any of the other 1256 requirements
     
    #18     Feb 16, 2011
  9. Just get tradelog and be done with it...i trade equities, options and futures and have used it the last two years to cover thousands of transactions. I then use Taxact to actually file my taxes, as the two are compatible and large transaction levels.


    I tried like hell to find a service to do the whole thing for me before i resorted to this, but just forget about it. You won't find an accountant who understands complex trader filing, and even if you do, they will effectively expect all the Schedule D work done in advance anyway. So you would need tradelog in either case.

    You can do it yourself, but at some point the import feature on tradelog makes it all worth it...if you just have 100 or 200 transactions or less, maybe its overkill.
     
    #19     Feb 16, 2011
  10. tjmxxx

    tjmxxx

    The ones I mentioned have import features also, and you own "track your trades" for life. Why keep paying is my point.
     
    #20     Feb 16, 2011