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jshtax

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I also password protect/encrypt any tax file that I email a client and use Adobe Acrobat. My clients are aware of what their individual password is to open the file. I agree with Randall, I believe it does make clients feel more comfortable; however, the other reason (in addition to state regulations) I password protect the document is to provide some protection should if I send the email to an incorrect email address. I’m happy to report, that’s never happened to me…but in the event I enter the email address incorrectly, the file is somewhat safe and normally cannot be opened by just anyone who receives it.

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I also password protect/encrypt any tax file that I email a client and use Adobe Acrobat. My clients are aware of what their individual password is to open the file. I agree with Randall, I believe it does make clients feel more comfortable; however, the other reason (in addition to state regulations) I password protect the document is to provide some protection should if I send the email to an incorrect email address. I’m happy to report, that’s never happened to me…but in the event I enter the email address incorrectly, the file is somewhat safe and normally cannot be opened by just anyone who receives it.

I follow the same procedure, but one year the wrong Smith got the return...couldn't open it....whew!!! Neither were angry and glad to see the system protected them.

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It's amazing how much each ATX user's experience varies. I had to enter about 50 stock transactions on Form

8949 yesterday and had slight delays between each data entry field (less than a second).

So what is fine if you do not enter each stock transaction? I net short and long term trades.

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Can you not input the trades via a spreadsheet into 8949?

I find the spreadsheet method much easier especially if I can get the broker to download it for me and i just format it. I am a very slow typist.

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Have you people with very different experiences with similar returns created test returns that behaved badly, exported them, and shared them with others to compare performance?

It would be interesting to see how much of this is return-specific, and how much is hardware/network configuration.

Eliminating variables in situations like this can really help to give you some direction.

I believe that the power of the community, and free exchange of information is the best way to tackle these issues, so let me know if there is anything I might be able to do to help. (more space to upload attachments, a new forum to contain threads for comparing notes, some custom thread tagging to help organize things, etc.)

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Can you not input the trades via a spreadsheet into 8949?

I find the spreadsheet method much easier especially if I can get the broker to download it for me and i just format it. I am a very slow typist.

Both ATX 2012 and 2013 have CSV import features for the 8849, but I do not know the format required for the spreadsheet import. My guess is that it has to be identical to the columns in the 8849.

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Am I the only one that has run into road blocks from the brokers where they've flat out refused to give the data in spreadsheet format? I have not been successful in getting this data from any of the brokers my clients deal with. The last one I asked said it was because "they didn't want anyone 'manipulating' the data." Yet, the detail info given with the 1099B and its totals didn't tie in because of a handful of transactions from cash in lieu of dividend payments and return of principal. It would have been so much easier to add these into an existing spreadsheet.

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If your clients use Scottrade (most of my day trader types do) they can download it themselves and e-mail that to you.

Most brokers will not cooperate with you unless your client put the pressure on them if the broker has to request that from their recordkeeper company (I think a lot use that National Financial)

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I still have one broker who won't provide spreadsheets. For other holdouts, I told my clients the difference in their prices if I type in all their transactions vs. receiving a spreadsheet from their brokers. That got spreadsheets emailed to me that same day in most cases! I may finally set up Scan & Flow so it can create spreadsheets from the hardcopies for next season.

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I forget the name of the brokerage house I think it is called Steiffel Nicholas or some thing like that, and one of my clients actually took his account away from them when they refused to cooperate??

My assistant will charge $10 to $12 per hour to manually create the spreadsheet from the paper report and some of my clients pay that instead of fighting with their broker. But obviously that is not the optimal method due to typo type errors.

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>> Scottrade only downloads in a format to be imported into TurboTax or an Intuit program. Tried that.

You can format the columns and headings in Excel to match your software requirement

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My software doesn't have a requirement; I don't change the spreadsheet. ProSystem fx grabs the columns you tell it to get. Love it. And really want to have time to work with the Scan program before next tax season. It'll take the paper G/L reports and based on the broker, turn them into spreadsheets.

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>> Scottrade only downloads in a format to be imported into TurboTax or an Intuit program. Tried that.

You can format the columns and headings in Excel to match your software requirement

Show me how Scottrade website will download the information in an Excel Spreadsheet. Tell me how and when you did that? It will download only to a file that can be accessed with Intuit tax software.

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Show me how Scottrade website will download the information in an Excel Spreadsheet. Tell me how and when you did that? It will download only to a file that can be accessed with Intuit tax software.

I don't download it. My client gets it and e-mail to me a spreadsheet that I or my assistant spend some time formatting the columns and it works 99%. There are some transactions that have to edited to make it work.

Yes I agree it is not 100% automatic but when you have over 100 transactions, spending 15-30 minutes to get it to work is worth it.

If you are using Drake and you get the pdf version you can get it converted by sending it through Gruntworks.

Jack, pls. tell your clients to do this for you:

Transaction History

Use the Transaction History page to locate important details of transactions that took place in your account including the dates and descriptions for each transaction. Multiple shares of a security that were part of a single trade order will be shown as one transaction. If the net amount of the transaction was calculated based on an average price of multiple fills, YES will be indicated in the Avg Price column. If your order was executed in one fill, you will see NO in the Avg Price column. An order placed prior to Aug. 28, 2010 will show N/A in the Avg Price column. Those earlier orders will only display individual fills. Visit the Order Status page of your account to view the individual fills for any trade.

To view the Transaction History page, go to the My Account tab of your Scottrade account and click Account History in the left navigation menu.

When viewing information on the Transaction History page, you can filter the page results by Date, Transaction and Symbol using the entry fields at the top of the page. Using the Transactions drop-down box, you can filter your transaction history by the following types of transactions:

  • Trades
  • Buys
  • Sells
  • Deposits & Withdrawals
  • Interest
  • Dividend
  • Stock Receipts
  • Stock Deliveries

To filter your transaction history for a range of dates, use the Date drop-down box and enter the Start and End Dates of the period you want to view. Use the Export to Excel link above your list of transactions to create records of your investments that can be saved on your personal computer.

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