MaStA's Account Talk

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MaStA said:
Yes I do use OH and this is a bit irritating since I want to get my taxes filed and over with lol. Hopefully I do my taxes correctly since this is my first year filing with an individual account. I think I have a couple of "wash" sales which I think means I don't get to write off losses from the trades since I re-bought the same stock within 30 days of an initial loss or something like that. I don't know how I file that in the online tax software I am using exactly...hopefully I figure it all out.
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I don't know much about it yet because this is my first year as well. I did read something saying if you file as an "investor" it's much easier than if you're a "trader". Hope wash sales don't factor in if you're an investor, cuz I'll have a ton of those from flipping TNA/TZA constantly.

Edit: I'm in TZA with ya and enjoying this afternoon run up! It'll be hard not to get out at break even.
 
bmneveu said:
I don't know much about it yet because this is my first year as well. I did read something saying if you file as an "investor" it's much easier than if you're a "trader". Hope wash sales don't factor in if you're an investor, cuz I'll have a ton of those from flipping TNA/TZA constantly.

Edit: I'm in TZA with ya and enjoying this afternoon run up! It'll be hard not to get out at break even.
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Right on. I'm in at 10.53 so I still have a little ways to go. We are definitely in a dive right now...I just wonder how far it will go. I wouldn't mind adding some more TZA to make me get my money back faster, but at this point I'm scared to put anymore on the line.
 
RealMoneyIssues said:
Hope that covered your trade fees... :nuts:
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It did. I made a little over $20 and my trade fees are $3.95 per. :)

Plus, I think I read online that when you do your 1099-B when you put the total cost of buying the shares and then the total you received from selling the shares that you can subtract the trade costs from your sale amount since you technically had to spend money to get money (or lose money). Maybe someone can tell me if this is really true and you can "write off" your trade fees this way.
 
You are not allowed to write off your trade fees - it's all inclusive. It is part of doing business. Remember the IRS has your records and they know the price of every thing.
 
Birchtree said:
You are not allowed to write off your trade fees - it's all inclusive. It is part of doing business. Remember the IRS has your records and they know the price of every thing.
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I'm not talking as an actual write off, but when determining the cost basis and sale amount are you saying you cannot add commissions to the cost basis and subtract them from the sale amount? Maybe most brokerages automatically do this for you, but it seems like it is something worth looking into.

According to these websites you can do this...

Questions From Readers: Can I Deduct Brokerage Commissions Paid to Trade Stocks For Tax Purposes?
Tax Tips For The Individual Investor
Deduct Commissions | Broker Commission Deduction
 
MaStA

Your commissions are already subtracted out of the selling price in your 1099, just make sure their added into the cost basis of your purchase price also. Especially if the brokerage account isn't reporting the purchase on the 1099 (e.g. not reporting to IRS either).

Also if your doing your own taxes and you got a qualified dividend for these stocks, make sure you complete the qualified dividend worksheet to compute your tax liability (1040 line 44, e.g. don't just apply line 43 to the tax table to get the number for line 44). I think it is something like the first $3,000 in qualified dividend aren't taxed but that is phased out the higher your AGI is and I think eliminated at around 700K for someone filling married (so BT doesn't get this little tax break). For most people the only reason they have you add qualified dividends to AGI is for Schedule A minimums, they don't intend for you to pay taxes on it....BUT MOST PEOPLE DO.

PM me if you have any questions.
 
ILoveTDs said:
MaStA

Your commissions are already subtracted out of the selling price in your 1099, just make sure their added into the cost basis of your purchase price also. Especially if the brokerage account isn't reporting the purchase on the 1099 (e.g. not reporting to IRS either).

Also if your doing your own taxes and you got a qualified dividend for these stocks, make sure you complete the qualified dividend worksheet to compute your tax liability (1040 line 44, e.g. don't just apply line 43 to the tax table to get the number for line 44). I think it is something like the first $3,000 in qualified dividend aren't taxed but that is phased out the higher your AGI is and I think eliminated at around 700K for someone filling married (so BT doesn't get this little tax break). For most people the only reason they have you add qualified dividends to AGI is for Schedule A minimums, they don't intend for you to pay taxes on it....BUT MOST PEOPLE DO.

PM me if you have any questions.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! It seems since I don't do option trading and just trade stocks/ETFs in my individual account that once I get the 1099-B and 1099-DIV it should just be simple plug and play with the numbers into an online tax program and I should be done. Am I wrong by saying this? lol

On another note, I went from 271 to 171 on the tracker in one day. woot!
 
In theory should be, that's what your paying the tax service for.

On the other hand remember the accountant didn't write the software, a computer programer wrote the software who probably knows less about taxes then you do. If their is a flaw in the software the accountants should have caught it. However, I would double check it.

I'm assuming most on this forum will file a 1040. Take the number on line 43 and apply it to the tax table in the 1040 instructions if that number is larger then what is on line 44 they took care of it for you. If that number matches the number on line 44 and you have qualified dividends, I'd complete the the qualified dividend worksheet in the 1040 instructions under line 44. If it comes out the same no harm no foul, but their is a good chance it will come out smaller (e.g. lower taxes). Again this only applies if you have qualified dividends.
 
ILoveTDs said:
In theory should be, that's what your paying the tax service for.

On the other hand remember the accountant didn't write the software, a computer programer wrote the software who probably knows less about taxes then you do. If their is a flaw in the software the accountants should have caught it. However, I would double check it.

I'm assuming most on this forum will file a 1040. Take the number on line 43 and apply it to the tax table in the 1040 instructions if that number is larger then what is on line 44 they took care of it for you. If that number matches the number on line 44 and you have qualified dividends, I'd complete the the qualified dividend worksheet in the 1040 instructions under line 44. If it comes out the same no harm no foul, but their is a good chance it will come out smaller (e.g. lower taxes). Again this only applies if you have qualified dividends.
Click to expand...

I only had $11 of dividends on my individual account I think since I mostly play ETFs with my individual account. My big dividend players are in my Roth IRA which I don't have to deal with anything regarding taxes. I didn't do much with my individual account this past year so I'm talking less than $1,000 in gains. I don't manually fill out IRS forms. I just type numbers in the boxes and it auto generates the stuff. :)
 
My F fund is rolling in some nice earnings today it looks like. Looking for an entry back into the S fund before the end of the month if things look right.
 
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