Do I need to mail IRS a form (e.g., 8949)? Unreported stock basis

olddaywavebreak

This year, I had capital gains on stock sales where the broker did not report basis to the IRS. I bought the shares prior to brokers being legally required to keep the records (~2011). Therefore, I uploaded a summary statement to FreeTaxUSA that broke out the shares by year of acquisition (they were mostly DRIP ).

If I uploaded a summary statement, do I need to separately mail anything to the IRS?

Austyn

Hi olddaywavebreak,

The answer depends on exactly how you uploaded the statement in FreeTaxUSA.

If you attached the statement as a PDF file during the e-file step (FreeTaxUSA presents a "File Attachments" screen where you can drag and drop a PDF), then the statement transmits electronically with your return and you do not need to mail anything separately to the IRS.

However, if you only entered summary totals in the investment sales section and did not attach an actual PDF during the e-file step, then the IRS requires you to mail the detailed statement to them. In that case, you would need to mail your statement along with Form 8949 and Form 8453 to the IRS within 3 business days of your e-file being accepted. The IRS instructions for Form 8949 specifically state: "If you e-file your return but choose not to report each transaction on a separate row on the electronic return, you must attach Form 8949 to Form 8453 (or the appropriate form in the Form 8453 series) and mail the forms to the IRS." https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8949

If you need verification of what was done in your account, you can reach out to our team through the support center within your account and they'll be able to look into that for you.

olddaywavebreak

I uploaded a PDF. However, due to the volume of transactions (it was a decade of quarterly dividend reinvestments), I did one line per year of dividends and put the acquisition date as "VARIOUS". Does that change anything?

Thank you for your insight!

MatthewD

Hi,

That should NOT change anything. You can do that using "Various" and you must also indicate if the investment is less than One Year or more than One Year. That way the software knows to classify the investment as Long-term or Short-term sales for capital gains.