Personal Finance (Not Investing) • preferred tax preparation software? [for tax year 2023]

Thanks you guys!

One thing many people don't realize is that you don't necessarily have to list all the transactions, a summary of the totals is fine since the IRS gets a copy of the 1099-B anyway.

This needs to be printed in big bold red letters somewhere.

Out of the entire 1099-B, one only needs

Proceeds - Basis = Gains for long term lots
Proceeds - Basis = Gains for short term lots

For the mainstream case anyway (wash sales and uncovered lots may complicate reporting a bit).

I think this applies to me. At least the fidelity entries say they were already reported to the irs. I'm still dealing with getting jp morgan to fix up some basis.

Also, some brokerages will let you download CSV files directly. I know Fidelity has this, but not sure which others.

Yes, fidelity has csv available but my other banks dont. AND: There's no concensus on the column headers for the csv so you get to read the import instructions for whatever software you're using. The big benefit of csv for intermediate format is that you get to use a snappy spreadsheet with columns instead of dealing with an awful web form. These ui are just so bad!

To save $60-80 (per year), I'll manually key in some stuff. I always double check across at least 2 software anyway, to help ensure I did things properly.

Hopefully this year is an exception but we have like 18 different 1099 from 6 different banks. Next year its 4 banks and accounts getting combined so it'll be better, oh and I'll be ditching schwab so 2025 will be 3 banks. I tend to lose it filling out redundant forms at the dr's office. These tax forms drive me crazy. All these numbers that I transcribe and which need to be correct is just really aggravating.

TT Deluxe Desktop will also do all of this - no need for Premiere despite the marketing tables. Online versions are a different story though and you do need Premiere. Super confusing. HR Block is similar.

Gosh I was juuuust about to pull the trigger on amzn premium download before I decided to check this thread. I can just get deluxe then? Makes sense, the tables do sort of suggest that, but I relied on their helpful and handy package chooser . Sweet. You just took some money straight out of intuit's pocket.

Statistics: Posted by eri — Mon Feb 26, 2024 2:27 pm — Replies 51 — Views 5051

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