Form 8949 and Form 1099-B - Enter Stock Transactions
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There are several options that you can use to enter or import your stock transactions and information from Form 1099-B. Once entered, the TaxAct program will complete Form 8949 Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets, Schedule D Capital Gains and Losses, and Form 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Line 7, as applicable. If you have more than 2,000 stock transactions, or you received a Form 8949, you can use the Form 8949 attachment option to report the summary totals.
Manually Enter Form 1099-B
You can enter each stock transaction by following the steps listed below.
The Stock Assistant is a TaxAct tool that allows you to enter multiple transactions at once using a spreadsheet style entry format. See Stock Assistant for details.
On smaller devices, click in the top left corner of your screen, then click Federal.
Click the Investment Income dropdown, click the Gain or loss on the sale of investments dropdown, then click Capital gain or loss (Form 1099-B).
Click + Add Another Sale to create a new copy of the form or click Edit to edit a form already created
In the desktop program, you will click Add beside New Copy of Federal Form 1099-B or click Review instead of Edit.
Continue with the interview process to enter the details for each transaction.
Go to IRS Publication 550 Investment Income and Expenses (Including Capital Gains and Losses, for more information.
While you report Form 1099-B as a part of the interview process, and the information is transferred to Schedule D and/or Form 8949, the final return that is sent to the IRS does not include your Forms 1099-B. The information is reported to the IRS on Schedule D and/or Form 8949.
Key Definitions
Date Acquired and Date Sold: If a sale includes multiple purchases, you can report it on one form using "various" as the date acquired. Then, indicate whether it's a short- or long-term gain or loss. If both types are included, report them separately on two Forms 1099-B. You cannot use "various" as the date sold.
TaxAct supports a property description length of 34 characters on Form 1099-B for capital gains transactions.
Cost Basis: generally, the cost you paid for the property, plus purchase commissions, recording or transfer fees, any improvements, minus depreciation, amortization, and depletion. The cost basis is used to determine capital gains and losses.
Capital Gains:
Short-term: Held = 1 year
Long-term: Held > 1 year
Special Cases
Wash Sales: Losses from quick repurchases are deferred. Check the box I need to enter Market Discount or Wash Sale Loss under Other Details.
Dividend-Reinvested Stocks: Include reinvested dividends in your basis.
Return of Capital: Reported in Box 1d, this reduces basis.
Additional Scenarios
Contact the IRS or use Xpert Assist for more information about the following:
Restricted Stock Units (RSU): Typically reported on W-2; check if Form 1099-B is also issued.
Bartering: Generally reported as income on Schedule C instead of on Form 1099-B/Schedule D.
Nominees: Use adjustment code N and provide the copy of Form 1099-B/Form 1096 to the actual owner.
Noncovered Securities: May lack basis info; select the appropriate 8949 category by going to the Form 8949 category drop-down, and choose either:
B - Short-term transaction in which basis was NOT reported to the IRS
E - Long-term transaction in which basis was NOT reported to the IRS
Qualified Opportunity Funds: To enter the adjustment for a QOF,
Enter the adjustment amount as a negative,
Select code Z in the adjustment drop list,
Check that Proceeds are from a Qualified Opportunity Fund.
Enter fund EIN in the Qualified Opportunity Fund EIN box.
Traders in Securities:
Must distinguish investment vs. trading holdings.
Report expenses on Schedule C.
Generally, not subject to SE tax.
Mark-to-Market Election
Converts capital gains/losses to ordinary.
Requires IRS election and Form 3115.
Gains/losses go on Form 4797.
E-filing limit: 40 transactions; more require paper filing.