Trade Activity Tax Reporting

March 23rd, 2011, 03:23 AM

Hoping this might be the right forum...

As I seriously contemplate ratcheting-up my trading volume, I find myself wondering how you all record these many daily transactions for IRS purposes. As I do my taxes now, I hope there is some application or software that extracts this data and populates it directly into Schedule D / D1.

Are there any brokers out there that have such offerings? I'm contemplating a new broker now and I'm considering making this a factor in the decision-making process.

Thanks much.

March 24th, 2011, 11:24 AM

Check this thread:

The Tax Thread

I thought we could use a thread devoted to Taxes. This is all things taxes regarding trading.

One example, Advantages/disadvantages for different situations (equities, futures, forex, etc) as well as benefits of filing sole-proprietor vs LLC or as a …

Are you talking about equities or futures?

Mike

March 24th, 2011, 11:33 AM

if you're trading futures, you don't have to record you transactions. your broker will give you a 1099 at the end of the year and that's all you need.

March 24th, 2011, 12:00 PM

Thanks guys!

Futures have only been in paper money thus far, but I'm getting ready to give it a try for real. I just learned on the day I started this thread that futures don't entail the logging of every transaction! MWinfrey - thanks for confirming. Better yet, it has a favorable tax rate, 60 / 40 (short / long term), as I recall. Big Mike, I will check-out that thread now... Thank you.

Equities and options have been my bread & butter, and since I still plan to continue with those trades, I'd like a way to more easily log them on Schedule D / D1. I received this from my current broker (TDA):

I am glad you contacted us about this. I will be happy to explain how to download your gain/loss information into Turbo Tax.

Please use the following steps to download your gain/loss information into Turbo Tax.

1. Log on to your online TurboTax account and click the Federal Taxes tab at the top middle
2. Click Continue
3. Click Explore on My Own in the middle of the page
4. Click Start on the right side within the Import Your Tax Info section
5. Click the grey A financial institution radio button to the left, and then click the blue Continue button at the bottom right
6. Type GAI under I'm Looking For to highlight GainsKeeper in blue and then click the blue Continue button at the bottom right
7. Type the 9 digit account #@amtd for the Login ID and 4 digit PIN for the Password
8. Click Continue
9. If needed, click each checkbox to place a check to the left of each item listed
10. Click Import Now

Please keep in mind that this does not include dividends or interest, this information is found on your 1099. I hope that this is helpful.

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reply to this email.

Best regards,
==========

So, I have never had reason to use tax software before, but if that's the only way to have these schedules populated in a more automated fashion, I will consider it... I was hoping for a solution that did not entail such a middle man, especially a paid one that I don't otherwise need. I realize that there might be such a solution in that thread, so let me read there next...

I will say that I'm in the process of selecting another broker. Thanks to this forum, Big Mike in particular, MultiCharts is the platform of choice. With that, and their somewhat limited availability of brokers, I'm focusing on just those possibilities. And since I'd prefer a combo broker & data provider, that further shortens the list. As of this moment, MB Trading is about to get my biz. I say all of this because if there is a broker that makes "this" (tax prep) easier, that would be a factor in the decision process... Do share.

Thanks again.

Trade Activity Tax Reporting

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Trade Activity Tax Reporting