Catherine Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Client who usually has lots of stock transactions brought me the usual spreadsheet of info. It's very nice; all the details already looked up and filled in. I re-arrange things a bit, put it into csv format, import, double check -- poof; done. Well, this year he has three "put" transactions. Completely leaving aside the whole topic of what on earth a "put" is, (I know it is neither a call nor a putsch, further than that not so clear), HOW do I enter these things?!?! TIA, Catherine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasdlm Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Expired or exercised? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Two sales; one expired right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Your client is the seller? Per TTB, When a put expires, seller reports the amount received for the put as a short-term capital gain. When a put is sold by the holder, this does not effect the seller. When a put is exercised, seller reduces the basis in the stock purchased by the amount received for the put. (even though you didn't ask about exercise!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 More research is required.... blech. Thanks, Lion! At least I feel better about the RSU calculations facing me today; those I _know_ how to handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Oh, gee, I have RSUs coming up, too. Every client has a new twist: foreclosure, TN, 1099-Q, biz expenses for a biz closed 10 years ago, an estate, a new trust, excess contributions to an HSA, RI withheld when his ship was docked in Newport Oregon, finding W-2s for the kids in with the parents stuff and the kids worked in more states with college and home and spending the summer with a friend, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 And those 'fun returns' tend to come in late, at best, and late and incomplete at worst, don't they? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 And the two different clients who each received corrected broker statements today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Got those puts figured out (thanks to all; and also TTB for their handy-dandy chart) and entered. A hundred and forty stock transactions in that one return. The RSU's (that have gotten put off 'til tomorrow; I'm quitting for the night!) will seem like a piece of cake by comparison when I get to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 And the two different clients who each received corrected broker statements today. I showed a series of broker statements to my wife yesterday and said this is what will drive us in this industry to drink (as if we needed something else). For five different accounts for the same broker, I had a statement that said the figures are not final. I thought cool, at least they are telling us something else is coming. The next statement said the figures are final. I thought cool, I will use these numbers. Then I open up the next statement and it says revised final figures. I am almost afraid to prepare the return before we get the corrected revised final figures. Are you kidding me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 I got a corrected one that is for a consolidated 1099 - with three different accounts, mind you with the same brokerage - and it's on a regular old 1099 form. With one account number in the box. It doesn't tie to ANY numbers on the original consolidated 1099s for any account and is accompanied by a letter referring to a fund that was sold but paid no dividends per the consolidated 1099. So I ask the client. She has no clue, and asks her broker. The broker sends two emails back, and the second says it has to do with the third account, not the one that was on the corrected 1099. And has no clue about the letter, and said, no, that fund paid no dividends. Arrrghhhh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasdlm Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 I know I'm being dense, but I can't come up with what RSU stands for . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Restricted Stock Units. One of the many flavors of employer stock options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Last year I had one client with a fat consolidated 1099. By the time the broker got to the third or fourth correction, she sent me a spread sheet of the corrections only, not a new 1099. I could tie only a few lines to anything on the most recent 1099 to make the changes. Three emails later, her assistant claims my client sold those securities so use only the g/l changes and not the int/div. Not very many month later, IRS letter -- underreported interest. Broker had given me 1099-B for her bond account but no 1099-INT. Still haven't completed her amendment. (And, the client didn't have the hard copy either. Looked through her paperwork thoroughly to prepare her return.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxxcpa Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 When you buy a put you buy a right to sell a stock at a certain "strike price." If you sell a put you agree to buy it at a certain strike price. Often the buyers and sellers of puts have no intention of actually buying or selling it. They are gambling that the price will move a certain direction. For example, you buy a $ 50 strike price put and pay $2.00 per share. If the stock goes up to $ 51.00 it has no intrinsic value. If the stock drops to $ 45, the put has an intrinsic value of $5.00. In addition to the intrinsic value, there is a premium for "time value." A seller of puts has much less risk than the seller of a call option. If you sold an "uncovered" call at a $ 50 strike price, the price could theoretically go up to $ 100 or $200 and you would have to buy it back at a big loss or pay $ 200 to cover your position or buy back the call. In the dot com bubble days, I could sell an out-of-the-money put on QQQ for $10 or more per share and they would expire worthless and I would keep the money, then sell another one with a later expiration date. I made a killing that way, but when the bubble burst, I lost most of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 OK, I've got them too. Puts, that is. Working through dozens of pages of 1099-B in three different Merrill Lynch accounts. First I discover references to PTPs. Client didn't give me any K-1s. I track them down online, and of course they're each dozens of pages also. But, one whole page in the Merrill Lynch statement is Puts, Sales. It's been years since I had these (a stockbroker client did puts and calls.) All are Sales and ML does give an Amount and Cost Basis. So far, so good But what is this at the bottom of the page about Short-term 40% and Long-term 60%. Do I have to divide every line into ST and LT? Do I not enter the dates? And he's leaving on vacation next week so needs his returns before the 15th! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted April 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 Lion -- wants them before the 15th, NOT "needs" them. File an extension and deal with it in May! If he really "needs" them before the 15th, tell him to postpone his vacation. That'll show you where his true priorities lie. Right about now I get pretty darned cranky with all the folks who have owed me info for weeks and weeks suddenly showing up with it and wanting to know "how long until?" NO. I refuse to make a total wreck of myself simply because a month ago YOU decided that sleeping late, going to the movies, or going away for the weekend was more important than pulling together the expense information on your stupid (insert whatever I was waiting for info on - rental condo, refi paperwork, stock basis...). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margaret CPA in OH Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 You go, Catherine - inspirational to me. I have to stiffen my back bone and willingness to be firm. It is annoying when you just know that choices they have made for their convenience are so stressful for us. In a way it is warming to think each of these has decided for some reason that they are the 'most special' and deserve this attention. I guess we may have given the impression (I know I have) to at least some that they are, indeed, special clients but then they really can take advantage of that. Must modify behavior, must modify behavior - mine and theirs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 I feel bad because I promised, but that was before I knew he had PTPs and hadn't giving me the K-1s! (And, he bought them in 2011, per the online site, so now there'll be IRS letters and amendments, but that's for this summer.) So, I'd already pulled three more clients out of my stack in the middle of the night when I was dealing with his Puts and missing K-1s and emailed him questions. No response from him, so working on other clients. When he contacts me, I'm saying extension. But, do I have to divide every line into 40% and 60% doubling my data entry? Every return seems to have a new twist this year. One that I'd set aside, thinking complete, waiting for them to confirm banking information -- when he emailed this morning he told me about a missing W-2 and gave me a final check stub. This one's too close to done so I'll do the substitute, but really didn't need any more issues today. And, he's complaining about his balances due, wanting explanations which I love to give BUT NOT THIS WEEK. Sign here and leave please. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted April 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 You go, Catherine - inspirational to me. I have to stiffen my back bone and willingness to be firm. It is annoying when you just know that choices they have made for their convenience are so stressful for us. In a way it is warming to think each of these has decided for some reason that they are the 'most special' and deserve this attention. I guess we may have given the impression (I know I have) to at least some that they are, indeed, special clients but then they really can take advantage of that. Must modify behavior, must modify behavior - mine and theirs! Don't forget, Margaret, that I am also telling MYSELF to do this. It is SO easy to push ourselves too hard because we want to help people!! But I need to be better at limits and one thing I do is put everyone on extension after 4/8 -- that way whoever is done, no pressure to get filed; whoever is not done, no pressure to get filed. Tomorrow afternoon I contact the stragglers and TELL them they're going on extension; please give me payment info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kea Posted April 7, 2013 Report Share Posted April 7, 2013 Lion - I think I had something similar last year. It seems like I just put the total loss on the 6781 and it did the 40% ST / 60% LT calculation. For this form, I didn't list each sale, just the total. They had lots of 1099Bs and puts, calls, sales, etc. etc. etc. and I'm not easily finding what went where right now. I have 73 files in their 2011 folder. So if you put it on extension, I'll look through this return more closely to see I can answer your question better. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 7, 2013 Report Share Posted April 7, 2013 I think that's exactly how it works. I've had it open and have been dragging my feet about entering the data. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 7, 2013 Report Share Posted April 7, 2013 This doesn't seem to fit nicely. Or, I'm being lazy because I'm tired. The page in the 1099-B is labeled Broad Based Index Options. I don't know which, or any, elections apply; I think none. And, as far as I know he didn't Mark to Market. So, i deal with all the Losses first in Part II and then the Gains. I don't think he had any Part III Last Day of Tax Year items. The form asks for the Kind of property and says to Attach a separate statement listing each straddle and its components. I have no idea what to put in each statement. I am definitely raising my price on this form! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 7, 2013 Report Share Posted April 7, 2013 I'm in over my head on this. If I enter (and I'm not using ATX) the way it seems, using the info from the broker and the boxes on Form 6781, then the losses go in one section and the gains in the other and the 40%/60% never comes into play. Am I supposed to make an election? Is my client? Is that something he and his broker did? Or do I just enter the lump numbers all the way at the bottom of the broker statement after all the detail and not enter the detail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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