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Strategies & Market Trends : The Covered Calls for Dummies Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lonnie who wrote (4874)	4/1/2007 5:11:47 PM
From: alanrs	Respond to of 5205

I think it is, although I don't do that. Quicken is really just to keep track of my checkbook and stuff like that. I do record my trades there, but it is not sophisticated enough to do my taxes. Try entering a trade on the Y-minis, for instance, where each tick is $5.00. Quicken will not handle such a transaction. The broker I trust. Gainskeeper I trust. If you never run into a wash sale situation, there is no reason you couldn't use Quicken. Just treat the option as a separate transaction. As long as you're not doing thousands of transactions I doubt anyone will ever notice or care if you don't go through adjusting the cost basis. If you're more meticulous, download your transactions from your broker directly to Gainskeeper or a similar accounting program. Your stock trades are reported to the IRS, or at least the proceeds from stock sales is. Options gains/losses are not, nor is the cost basis of the stocks you sold. Those are up to you to report. Again, I'm guessing that adjusting the cost basis of stock you acquire through option activity versus doing it the short cut way probably amounts to a tax difference in the pennies. That's a lot of work for pennies and I doubt the Govt. cares at our level of activity. Also, since option gains are always short term (except LEAPS in some situations, I think), the worst that can happen is that you pay a little too much tax. As always, consult a tax professional if this really is critical to your finances. I am not a tax professional and my opinion is just that and worth what you paid for it, in the final analysis. ARS