Catherine Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Anyone know how to do this? (Under the heading of "it should be easy BUT NNNOOO, the programmers couldn't do TTHHAATT.") Client has 74 Schedule D transactions. Was able to get an Excel file, saved it as csv type, imported it to Schedule D/Form 8949. For a whole _slew_ of transactions, the term is wrong. Whenever date purchased is "various" the program FORCES short term. I have the list; I know which are short term and which are long term. BUT there is NOWHERE to make this correction on the import sheet; nothing is on the detail or input pages (where you CAN select the term), and of course CCH is closed. Am I going to have to go line by line and invent a purchase date more than one year before sale for all the long-term transactions? Can I hit somebody in the programming department? At least make THEM sit here and fix my transactions (that's actually better; it will hurt more and last longer and TEACH them something)? Anyone have any magic for me? <-- Up to you to decide if this is me, or what I want for the program/programmers. TIA, Catherine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hahn1040 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 My experience is that when I get the spreadsheet from the broker, the purchase date is in there so the program knows long or short But if you need to make adjustments you can do that on the detail tab. You can edit the long/short column For all of the transactions I have to go in and tell it if it is an A or a B for the 8949 box. You can do this on the import sheet tab or the detail tab For my clients,so far, the Bs far outnumber the As - so I go through and code all of the A transactions and then make sure the 8949 page matches the spreadsheet and/or 1099-B and then go through and make the rest a B. then the B 8949 should match the 1099-B and cross your fingers all of the pages add up. Today I had one that the 1099-B reported a transaction as a covered transaction - LONG term. That is a contradiction since covered transactions started 1/1/11 and thus it could not be covered and LONG. The dates clearly showed short-term. I got to use the code" T" in the Form 8949 Code column to show that the 1099 was wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margaret CPA in OH Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Best of luck, Catherine. I have to admit abysmal failure on my first and only try and decided this would be a summer project. It was taking more time than to enter them - at least for me. The idea is great but not quite ready for my marginal skills with that feature. And I think the picture applies to both options. Just stop before it really hurts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 How about a "Replace" on the spreadsheet, Finding "Various" and Replacing with 01/01/2010 or something? Then you can import. Or, does ATX have an L/S column where you just keep arrowing down and hitting "L"? My price is going up and up on these forms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Even if you type, the default for Various is ST. You have to tab over and change it to long. I guess it has to default to something. I suggest also going to the detail sheet and tabbing down. I have a small amount of sales for which the client sent me an excel file, so I'm going to practice with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 ATX has been good at improving the program from year to year. Hopefully, they'll be adding some good improvements on this for next year. Doesn't help this year I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 I just had one this morning with 8 transactions. Took me forever to figure out why the totals weren't transferring to the D. They were all losses; some LT, some ST. I really wonder what was wrong with the way the Sch D worked before. Stick with the 8949 long enough and you can figure it out by trial and error if you don't lose your mind first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Cat, while I understand your frustration, it is not fair to blame ATX/CCH for not having that info that you have about the actual dates. IF you have to be mad at someone, be mad at the broker that just used Various instead of inputting the correct info. They are the ones who screwed you up. The program is just doing what it has to do, which is 'assume short if date is not known'. You can either edit the excel file, before importing it, or you can edit the forms within the program to fix all those Various entries. Which ever is easier for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 Sorry, folks, you are ALL missing the point. Hahn1040 -- there is NOTHING IN the "Detail" tab. The Import Sheet tab has NO WAY to adjust term!!! The ONLY choice I have is to put in a KNOWN WRONG purchase date to "force" long-term treatment where that term is correct. THAT is what I am frustrated about -- that I have to introduce KNOWN errors because there is NO facility for adjusting term when using the Broker Statement Import Sheet. I have, in this one return about which I am typing, 77 transactions that I have to go through carefully and introduce errors into a good couple dozen to get correct tax treatment. Plus I had to go through one by one and click on the "Form 8949 Box", "Transaction Type" box,. and "FSJ" box to make correct entries there; there is no way to tab or auto-fill those. So that was another 231 entries I had to make manually (and the Transaction Type and FSJ boxes I have asked ATX/CCH to help with for several years now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hahn1040 Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 There is! Go to the detail sheet SCROLL down (there is nothing at the top) then you will see your imported transactions if you move over several columns you will have the long/short column that is blue so that you can edit it You have to edit the form 8949 box to tell it a, b, or c- so you can do the term at the same time 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 Thank you!! I _had_ scrolled down -- but not far enough, apparently. I love this board. Catherine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 I used that feature this year for the first time, and I can see how it will help in the future. But, it does require some playing around with to get used to. I think I got it right on the 3rd try of importing, and then I could make any changes on the detail page. I still want to know why we can't import the CUSIP numbers? This is a head scratcher. The functionality is obviously built already, and if we are getting the CUSIP in the file, why not allow us to import it. Sounds like the programmers at CCH ran out of time before the release date. Where is our resident CCH summer tester/evaluator/test group member. This is one thing that is small but seems incredibly simple to do. Tom Lodi, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 CUSIP numbers, and the F/S/J and type of sale columns, too. Clicking through every one of those gets old _fast_. I have found that it's a bit quicker to go bottom up rather than top down, as the box-fills are a bit bigger than the box and fill _down_, covering the click area for the box below -- but that doesn't happen in the other direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 why do we need to put who the stock belongs to anyway, it doesn't go on the return and its not a required input for the dividends that those stock earn.....its just a useless input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margaret CPA in OH Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 In ATX if you indicate the person associated with the security sale and check the relative tax burden of MFJ vs MFS, it can make a difference. I have clients that independently have brokerage accounts with different activity. One couple often, but not always, benefits from filing separately and it's so much easier to check if coded during input. YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 I have a client who wants the MFJ split simply to assess the tax burden each is putting on the other because of very disparate incomes, separate property, inheritances, etc. For doing my RDP returns, I need to input so that when I split the returns, I can easily discard what doesn't belong on the single return I'm preparing from the joint CA. For my plain old single filers, I don't bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 i agree if you want the mfj/mfs split but why the diagnostic error only on schedule D, you don't get the error on other items such as int or div and this info is needed for the split worksheet too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail in Virginia Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 It can also make a difference on the Virginia return since the marital adjustment for taxes in VA is based on both having income. If nothing is indicated as Joint or Spouse, the adjustment defaults to Filer and no adjustment is made to the taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 still doesn't explain why there is a diagnostic for cap gain transactions but not int or div Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 I used it for the first time this year too. I knew one client would have a lot of trades. I got another one with a little surprise, had more trades than I thought. It was a weekend so I just entered them, not too terribly bad. But next year, I think I'm going to get all clients to have their broker send me the csv file before hand and use the import feature all the time. I think ATX will add improvements to this each year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 why do we need to put who the stock belongs to anyway, it doesn't go on the return and its not a required input for the dividends that those stock earn.....its just a useless input. If there is a loss that carries over, you'd need to assign it to the proper spouse, cause people divorce and die. There is a joke there somewhere, but it's too early for me to come up with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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