David you will buy some stock in 1996 and sell it in 1997, etc. and
the actual loss/gain for sched D are for those completed in 1997. I have never gotten a statement that includes an appropriate accounting, I got eight pages from Schwab that has "total sales" and "total buys" and no distinction is made for tax purposes.
Instruction say "get a bunch of schedule D-1's" but instead
arrange a spreadsheet as for the columns of schedule D. List buy prices,dates and sales prices, dates - dividing up the amounts for split sales i.e. buy 1000 then sell 600, sell 400 goes in two rows,
the buy price is proportionately divided. List all activity but
use a conditional in the "realized gain" computation so that open positions aren't counted. Show all closed positions and print for the IRS and transfer the open positions for next year's 1040D.
Margin interest is also deductible, via form 4872. If you have a net gain. For a net loss, this form is still filed as it can be carried into the next year and deducted against those gains.
Recieving dividends as stock often will get declared by brokerage as
a simple dividend distribution. This is a big pain and anything that does this should be sold!
That's how I do things, anyway. I was going to just report "the bottom line" but to figure it I had to create & print the spreadsheet, anyway, so I included it. The IRS will take and file anything you attach to your return.
Greg |
