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Forms 8949 and 1099-B - Entering Stock Transactions in Program
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TaxAct® will complete Form 8949 Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets for you and include it in your tax return submission.

To get the transaction information into your return, use any of the following options:

#1 - Enter transactions on Form 1099-B

Create a Form 1099-B in TaxAct for each transaction listed on your statement. To enter Form 1099-B into the TaxAct program:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Capital gain or loss (Form 1099-B).
  3. Click + Add Form 1099-B to create a new copy of the form or click Edit to review a form already created.
  4. Click Quick Entry to scroll down to answer all applicable questions or click Step-by-Step Guidance to proceed with the program interview questions.

#2 - Enter transactions through Stock Assistant

Stock Assistant is a TaxAct tool that allows you to enter multiple transactions at once using a spreadsheet style entry format. To access Stock Assistant:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Stock Assistant.
  3. Click Stock Assistant to launch the tool into a new window, enter all of the appropriate information, then click Continue.

#3 - Electronic Import for TaxAct-supported brokerages

(List of brokerages provided in step 5 below and include Betterment, Capital One Investing (formerly ShareBuilder), Form8949.com, GainsKeeper, Raymond James, TD Ameritrade, and UBS)

If you have a brokerage account with a TaxAct-supported brokerage, you can import your transactions directly into your TaxAct return. To import these transactions:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Stock data import.
  3. Click Electronic Import, select your brokerage from the 1099 Import drop-down, then click Continue.
  4. Enter your login information, then click Continue with the interview process to enter all of the appropriate information.

#4 - Electronic Import from GainsKeeper or Form8949.com users

If you have a GainsKeeper account, you can import your transactions directly into TaxAct. To import your GainsKeeper account information into TaxAct:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Stock data import.
  3. Click Electronic Import, select "GainsKeeper" from the 1099 Import drop-down, then click Continue.
  4. Enter your login information, then click Continue with the interview process to enter all of the appropriate information.

If you have less than 2000 transactions, you can import the stock transactions from Form8949.com directly into your TaxAct return. For Form8949.com users with more than 2000 transactions, see option #5 below. To import your transactions directly into your TaxAct return:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Stock data import.
  3. Click Electronic Import, select "Form8949.com" from the 1099 Import drop-down, then click Continue.
  4. Enter your FileNumber and Passcode, then click Continue to see a listing of all transactions included in your Form8949.com account.
  5. Click Import to import all transactions into your TaxAct return.

Go to the Form8949.com website to create a Form8949.com account. Note. The cost of Form8949.com services is not included in your TaxAct program fees.

#5 - Form 8949 Attachment Option

The IRS allows taxpayers to enter summary total amounts if their transactions are already listed on a Form 8949 or similar statement. If you have a Form 8949 attachment, you will simply enter the summary totals for each reporting category into TaxAct. If you have a PDF version of this attachment, you will be able to attach the statement to your return during the electronic filing steps. If you have a paper copy of your Form 8949 attachment, you will still be able to file electronically but you will need to mail this statement along with Form 8453 U.S. Individual Income Tax Transmittal for an IRS e-file Return to the IRS. To enter the information for the Form 8949 attachments:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Enter totals from a statement of transactions you will attach to your return.
  3. Click + Add Form 8949 Attachment to create a new copy of the form or click Edit to review a form already created.
  4. Check Attach a statement of transactions instead of entering them individually. to indicate you will be attaching a statement, then click Continue.
  5. Enter the name of the brokerage firm (e.g. TD Ameritrade, E*Trade) or software vendor (e.g. GainsKeeper, TradeLog, Form8949.com) who supplied you with the attachment as the Name of brokerage, then click Continue.
  6. You will now enter the summary totals based upon each reporting category. For each reporting category you need to report, click + Add Form 8949 Attachment and click Edit to review previously entered summary total amounts.
  7. Select an option from the Form 8949 reporting category drop-down for the totals you are entering, then click Continue.
  8. Enter the Total sales proceeds, the Total cost or other basis, and the Total adjustment amount from previous for the corresponding reporting category, then click Continue.
  9. The next screen will show how the information will be reported on Form 8949. Click Continue to add another reporting category or click Continue twice to instead add another Form 8949 Attachment Information Summary form. If you have more than six brokerage statements, you would want to enter the six containing the most transactions by this method and then enter the transactions on the other statements via another method.

For Form8949.com users, if you have more than 2000 transactions (or choose not to import your transactions into your TaxAct return), you can enter your summary totals by reporting category. You can then attach your Form 8949 statements to your electronic tax return and file electronically. Or you can print your Form 8949 statements and include them with your paper return. To enter your statement summary totals into your TaxAct return (if you have more than six brokerage statements, you would want to enter the six containing the most transactions by this method and then enter the transactions on the other statements via another method):

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Enter totals from a statement of transactions you will attach to your return.
  3. Click + Add Form 8949 Attachment to create a new copy of the form or click Edit to review a form already created.
  4. Check Attach a statement of transactions instead of entering them individually. to indicate you will be attaching a statement, then click Continue.
  5. Enter "Form8949.com" as the Name of brokerage, then click Continue.
  6. You will now enter the summary totals based upon each reporting category. For each reporting category you need to report, click + Add Form 8949 Attachment and click Edit to review previously entered summary total amounts.
  7. Select an option from the Form 8949 reporting category drop-down for the totals you are entering, then click Continue.
  8. Enter the Total sales proceeds, the Total cost or other basis, and the Total adjustment amount from previous for the corresponding reporting category, then click Continue twice.
  9. Repeat the last three steps for each reporting category listed above that needs to be entered.

Note. The cost of Form8949.com services is not included in your TaxAct program fees.

#6 - CSV Import

If you are able to obtain a CSV file of your transactions from your brokerage, you can use this CSV file to import your transactions into TaxAct. To import the CSV file into TaxAct:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, click Gain or loss on the sale of investments to expand, then click Stock data import.
  3. Click CSV Import, browse your computer files to locate the CSV file, then click Open (or Continue).
  4. Use the drop-down menus to match the column headings from your file to the appropriate column headings allowed in the program, then click Next >.
    Note. It is the responsibility of the taxpayer/preparer to make sure the columns in their CSV file match the appropriate fields in the TaxAct program. If these do not accurately match, the program may not calculate the investment sales correctly.
  5. Select any entries you want imported into your tax file.
    Note. To select all of the transactions, use the checkbox next to the Import column heading. Click Next > to continue.
  6. Review the transaction information on the screen. If everything is correct, click Import. If you need to make changes, click < Previous to repeat prior CSV import steps.
  7. Close the Import Successful notification window.
  8. When you return to the screen titled CSV File Import, click Continue to review, modify, or delete any of the Form 1099-B data imported into your return.

Note. If you import more than one CSV file or brokerage statement, the transactions will be added to the list of Form 1099-Bs Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions previously created (up to 2,000 total).

You can also create your own CSV file to import into TaxAct. For more information about this option, see How to Import Stock Information Using a CSV File from Your Broker.

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the document at the time it is accessed.