I discovered today in trying to track down my 1099 from one of my RJO Futures accounts that I was not getting one because all the trades made in that account were on non-US exchanges. While I will now have to go through my account statements to get the exact profit/loss numbers for 2009 it got me wondering if there was any way for the IRS to track these trades? Since I lost money in the account there's no reason for me to try to cheat, but isn't this a big loophole???? Seems odd they wouldn't have any way of tracking the trades especially since it's a US based broker. SSB
You are ignoring the fact that brokers are not even required to report option trading on a Form 1099-B. So why worry about no requirement for brokers to report foreign futures trading on a Form 1099-B ? Remember that is up to you to report all income on your Form 1040, no matter the source or if a Form 1099 exists for it. Even proceeds from robberies and embezzlement are reportable as taxable income on Form 1040.