I have been able to reconcile my 1099s for both my trading MTM
account -(Interactive Brokers) and my investment account
(Ameritrade) by using TradeLog software and Green as my accountant.
Because of all the inconsistant wash sale accounting which you can
read about on the Green site TradeLog has a built in "adjustment"
to reconcile what "should be in reality per IRS regs" vs what the
brokers have reported. Looks like this is as good as it will get
till the inconsistant rules are straightened out. Tne
TradeLog/Green combo is not cheap but it's my 3rd year with TL and
second with Green and I am so much less stressed out than I used to
be. Even though we filed for an extension because rules may change
as the year goes on I think my end of the work is done -- for years
I went through tax agony twice -- at the start of the year and then
before filing the extended return in Oct and I spent a lot of time
dealing with accountant mistakes.
I have similar tax problems. I imported my broker's e-file
statements into Turbo Tax, then spent hours adding missing
transactions and filling out missing cost bases or adjusting cases
where the broker used FIFO where I had been doing different
accounting in my own records. After spending many hours doing this
and finishing after 2 weekends of work, my broker sent me totally
amended forms - what a nightmare as I cannot just re-import
them since it will wipe out my many manual changes. Also, I
noticed the wash sales must have been accounted incorrectly by my
broker, as they really should have a net 0 effect once all equities
have been sold, yet the wash sales in their reported forms
discounted much of my valid losses. The link below claims most
brokers got the wash sale accounting all wrong - I asked my broker
about that via their helpdesk and received a form response asking
me to prove they are wrong. I am frustrated beyond belief and
cannot use Mark-to-Market now since I have accumulated losses from
prior years.
Posted by maggi3322 on 1st of Apr 2012 at 01:00 am
it is my understanding that once your account has been set up
with m2m accounting rules that it can only be changed by the irs,
not the broker. please correct me if I am wrong. This is the issue
I'm working with, Schwab changed my accounting method and if my cpa
is correct that is not allowed.
TAX ISSUES
Posted by maggi3322 on 31st of Mar 2012 at 10:48 am
If anyone has come up with a solution to resolve trading tax issues for 2011 PLEASE pm me, my tax accountant is going insane with this as is Schwab!
thanks
Title: tax issues I have been
Posted by bkout3 on 2nd of Apr 2012 at 02:46 pm
I have been able to reconcile my 1099s for both my trading MTM account -(Interactive Brokers) and my investment account (Ameritrade) by using TradeLog software and Green as my accountant. Because of all the inconsistant wash sale accounting which you can read about on the Green site TradeLog has a built in "adjustment" to reconcile what "should be in reality per IRS regs" vs what the brokers have reported. Looks like this is as good as it will get till the inconsistant rules are straightened out. Tne TradeLog/Green combo is not cheap but it's my 3rd year with TL and second with Green and I am so much less stressed out than I used to be. Even though we filed for an extension because rules may change as the year goes on I think my end of the work is done -- for years I went through tax agony twice -- at the start of the year and then before filing the extended return in Oct and I spent a lot of time dealing with accountant mistakes.
Tax Issues
Posted by sethbru on 31st of Mar 2012 at 09:36 pm
I have similar tax problems. I imported my broker's e-file statements into Turbo Tax, then spent hours adding missing transactions and filling out missing cost bases or adjusting cases where the broker used FIFO where I had been doing different accounting in my own records. After spending many hours doing this and finishing after 2 weekends of work, my broker sent me totally amended forms - what a nightmare as I cannot just re-import them since it will wipe out my many manual changes. Also, I noticed the wash sales must have been accounted incorrectly by my broker, as they really should have a net 0 effect once all equities have been sold, yet the wash sales in their reported forms discounted much of my valid losses. The link below claims most brokers got the wash sale accounting all wrong - I asked my broker about that via their helpdesk and received a form response asking me to prove they are wrong. I am frustrated beyond belief and cannot use Mark-to-Market now since I have accumulated losses from prior years.
http://www.greencompany.com/blog/index.php?postid=139
tax issues
Posted by maggi3322 on 1st of Apr 2012 at 01:00 am
it is my understanding that once your account has been set up with m2m accounting rules that it can only be changed by the irs, not the broker. please correct me if I am wrong. This is the issue I'm working with, Schwab changed my accounting method and if my cpa is correct that is not allowed.
I'm pretty sure that is
Posted by matt on 1st of Apr 2012 at 01:47 am
I'm pretty sure that is the case from my understanding.