<p>Traders can choose mark to market…</p>
<p>I can’t remember what the definition of a trader is though…</p>
<p>And I guess the brokerage firm still has to get the accounting right.</p>
<p>Eventually…the brokerage firms will get the accounting correct…or at least acceptable. :)</p>
<p>It is not as hard as these brokerage firms are making it…</p>
<p>We have an accountant and he does a nice job. Then I do our taxes and always seem to find stuff he misses. He says I’m very detail oriented. I don’t mind doing taxes. It’s like laundry - tedious but sort of soothing to get done.</p>
<p>Well…I am recalculating 500 trades by hand…</p>
<p>For pnl…sales prices…costs…wash sale bs…</p>
<p>They are not big money makers either…</p>
<p>It would be more fun…if I didn’t have a fat finger on the calculator…</p>
<p>I think I am a third done…</p>
<p>That’s it for the day…left the info in the office…</p>
<p>I am not getting the 1099 by April 15th…</p>
<p>Looks like car sales are improving, and manufacturers aren’t having to provide incentives like they have in the past:</p>
<p>[The</a> surprising reason for record new car prices](<a href=“The surprising reason for record new car prices”>The surprising reason for record new car prices)</p>
<p>Wow, I guess that’s what they call pent-up demand.</p>
<p>I have 240K miles on my car and it’s in the shop right now. I’m getting two oxygen sensors replaced - the car runs lean in hot weather but the computer hasn’t called a fault yet. I’m replacing it proactively. The oxygen sensors are original on the car. On my previous Audis, the maintenance interval for oxygen sensors was ever 50K miles.</p>
<p>I can’t get too excited about bells and whistles. My previous car had a ton of them and quite a few of them eventually broke down and were major $$$$ to fix. But it’s clear that it’s what people expect from cars today. I’m glad that the manufacturers are making money keeping their customers happy and I’m glad that consumers are willing to spend - it indicates a level of optimism to me.</p>
<p>That said, there was other bad news out this week but that stuff is pretty easy to find these days.</p>
<p>Today’s L. A. Times had an article about property tax receipts being way, way down. Home values are still sliding here.</p>
<p>I’ve talked to Schwab several times over the past few days. I had bought 5 VWO calls on 9/01 and sold all of them on 9/13 with a loss. Schwab had them listed with a wash sale disallowed except for the 5th one. The loss they calculated was the same as I did. Apparently, all 5 contracts were purchased at slightly different times and when that happens that keep track of this wash sale nonsense. They added back the disallowed loss to the 5th contract that was sold so it all worked out. This stuff is idiotic.</p>
<p>In a word . . . NO . . . the economy is not getting better.</p>
<p>Doct…I am glad it is working out for you…</p>
<p>Don’t forget 2012 trades are wrong too…</p>
<p>They have to be recalculated…</p>
<p>I am doing everything myself and…</p>
<p>I have one stock symbol left…I left the worst for last. 
</p>
<p>Schwab said they are going to recalculate everything too…</p>
<p>I told Schwab not too send anything to the IRS until I see it because…I am correct…and I don’t want anymore erroneous 1099s sent to the IRS.</p>
<p>Right now…my wash sale disallowed losses have gone from 200,000 to 5,000…</p>
<p>I don’t know if the wash sales are going to be zero…</p>
<p>I kept 200 stinkin shares… like a dummy…</p>
<p>Sewhappy…why do you say the economy isn’t getting better?</p>
<p>“Apparently, all 5 contracts were purchased at slightly different times and when that happens that keep track of this wash sale nonsense”</p>
<p>Is Schwab telling you that if you buy a stock and only sell part of your long within 30 days…you can’t take the loss?</p>
<p>Now…I have to relook at a couple of things…what a pain…</p>
<p>the economy is slowing again, AND we have inflation, AND we have high gas prices.</p>
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<p>And you have a full-time job?</p>
<p>“Is Schwab telling you that if you buy a stock and only sell part of your long within 30 days…you can’t take the loss?”</p>
<p>I don’t know - I put in a single order to buy 5 contracts that got purchased seconds apart and in the year end statement they are listed separately with different wash sale amounts. I sold them all together.</p>
<p>If they have losses that aren’t losses - I don’t care - I’m just taking the realized gains and losses from the year end statement.</p>
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<p>Hooray!</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
<p>“Hooray”</p>
<p>Yeah… :)</p>
<p>“I don’t know - I put in a single order to buy 5 contracts that got purchased seconds apart and in the year end statement they are listed separately with different wash sale amounts. I sold them all together.”</p>
<p>That was never a wash sale… </p>
<p>doct…I would use the realized gains and losses that Schwab gave me…except…Schwab has me losing several hundred thousand dollars…and I didn’t lose anything.</p>
<p>On second thought…maybe I should take those losses. :)</p>
<p>Exactly - when I called them they said it was added back which means it wasn’t a wash sale even though on the year end form it looks like it is. I don’t get any of this stuff. Since I have accts at different brokerages and different tax payer id’s because I’m the trustee and beneficiary of an irrevocable trust, I’ll make certain these trades take place in different accts. My home office is piled up with my father’s stuff including his taxes, trust tax stuff, my daughter’s tax stuff and mine. I’m also not a very organized individual so things are getting all mixed together.</p>
<p>Actually…if you use different accounts…the wash sales rules still apply…</p>
<p>In fact…you can end up with a bigger mess…</p>
<p>Better to keep things in one account.</p>
<p>I do think the brokerage firms will figure things out…and then it just takes good programming…something many of you are familiar with … :)</p>
<p>[Fairmark</a> Forum :: Capital Gains and Losses :: Wash Sale: Multiple Accounts](<a href=“Fairmark Forum Discontinued - Fairmark”>Fairmark Forum Discontinued - Fairmark)</p>
<p>“I’m also not a very organized individual so things are getting all mixed together.”</p>
<p>Yeah… I understand.</p>
<p>I know where everything is…in piles. :)</p>
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<p>I personally think that this stuff is pretty complex to program and a lot of companies just go for the cheapest programmers that they can find. Sometimes in far away Asian lands where they may not appreciate our tax laws.</p>
<p>That can even happen over here where you have recent graduates programming business systems without any experience in trading, changing brokerages, working with ESOP and ESPP systems and their different tax rules, etc. CS graduates generally don’t take business courses - very good with algorithms but don’t necessarily know anything about an aged trial balance report.</p>
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<p>I hate the piles.</p>
<p>I have my tax returns going back to 1996 in a file cabinet and that works quite well but sometimes I have to take out a year (usually the current) and make a few piles. BTW, I have the rest of my returns going back to the mid-1970s in notebooks in a bookcase in my home office.</p>
<p>What’s my wish? No taxes on investments at all.</p>