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Forms 8949 and 1099-B - Entering Stock Transactions in Program
1

TaxAct® will complete Form 8949 for you and include it in your tax return submission. To get the transaction information into your return, select from the 6 options described below.

#1 - Enter transactions on Form 1099-B

Create a Form 1099-B in TaxAct for each transaction listed on your statement. To enter Form 1099-B into the TaxAct program:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category and then click Gain or loss on sale of investments
  3. Click Capital gain or loss (Form 1099-B)
  4. Click Add to create a new copy of the form or click Review to review a form already created
  5. The program will proceed with the interview questions for you to enter or review the appropriate information.


#2 - Enter transactions through Stock Assistant

Stock Assistant is a TaxAct tool that allows you to enter multiple transactions at once using a spreadsheet style entry format. To access Stock Assistant:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category and then click Gain or loss on sale of investments
  3. Click Stock Assistant
  4. Click the Stock Assistant button to launch the tool window

#3 - Electronic Import for TaxAct-supported brokerages (list of brokerages provided in step 5 below and include Betterment, Capital One Investing (formerly ShareBuilder), Form8949.com, GainsKeeper, Raymond James, TD Ameritrade and UBS) 

If you have a brokerage account with a TaxAct-supported brokerage, you can import your transactions directly into your TaxAct return.  To import these transactions:
  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop) click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the section, then click Gain or loss on the sale of investments
  3. Click Stock Data Import
  4. Click Electronic Import
  5. Select your brokerage from the Brokerage or software vendor drop-down menu
  6. Enter your login information, then click Continue

#4 - Electronic Import from GainsKeeper or Form8949.com users 

If you have a GainsKeeper account, you can import your transactions directly into TaxAct. To import your GainsKeeper account information into TaxAct:
  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop) click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category, then click Gain or loss on the sale of investments
  3. Click Stock Data Import
  4. Select Electronic Import
  5. Select GainsKeeper from the Brokerage or software vendor drop-down menu
  6. Enter your login information, then click Continue

If you have less than 2000 transactions, you can import the stock transactions from Form8949.com directly into your TaxAct return. For Form8949.com users with more than 2000 transactions, see option #5 below. To import your transactions directly into your TaxAct return:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category, and then click Gain or loss on the sale of investments
  3. Click Stock Data Import
  4. Click Electronic Import
  5. Select Form8949.com from the Brokerage or software vendor drop-down menu
  6. Enter your File Number and Passcode
  7. Click Continue to see a listing of all transactions included in your Form8949.com account
  8. Click Import to import all transactions into your TaxAct return
To create a Form8949.com account, click here.

Note: The cost of Form8949.com services is not included in your TaxAct program fees.


#5 - Form 8949 Attachment Option
The IRS allows taxpayers to enter summary total amounts if their transactions are already listed on a Form 8949 or similar statement. If you have a Form 8949 attachment, you will simply enter the summary totals for each reporting category into TaxAct. If you have a PDF version of this attachment, you will be able to attach the statement to your return during the electronic filing steps. If you have a paper copy of your Form 8949 attachment, you will still be able to file electronically but you will need to mail this statement along with Form 8453 to the IRS.

To enter the information for the Form 8949 attachments:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category and then click Gain or loss on the sale of investments
  3. Click Enter totals from a statement of transactions you will attach to your return
  4. Click Add to create a new copy of the attached statement or click Review to review a copy already created
  5. On the following screen, check the box, then click Continue
  6. Enter the name of the brokerage firm (e.g. TD Ameritrade, E*Trade) or software vendor (e.g. GainsKeeper, TradeLog, Form8949.com) who supplied you with the attachment and click Continue
  7. You will now enter the summary totals based upon each reporting category:
    • For each reporting category you need to report, click Add.
    • To review previously entered Summary Total amounts, click Review.
  8. Select the reporting category for the totals you are entering and click Continue.
  9. Enter the summary totals for the reporting category previously select and click Continue
  10. The next screen will show how the information will be reported on Form 8949.  Click Continue to add another reporting category, click Continue twice more to instead add another Form 8949 Attachment Information Summary form.  If you have more than six brokerage statements, you would want to enter the six containing the most transactions by this method and then enter the transactions on the other statements via another method.
For Form8949.com users, if you have more than 2000 transactions (or choose not to import your transactions into your TaxAct return), you can enter your summary totals by reporting category. You can then attach your Form 8949 Statements to your electronic tax return and file electronically. Or you can print your Form 8949 Statements and include them with your paper return. To enter your statement summary totals into your TaxAct return (if you have more than six brokerage statements, you would want to enter the six containing the most transactions by this method and then enter the transactions on the other statements via another method):
  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category, and then click Gain or loss on the sale of investments
  3. Click Enter totals from a statement of transactions you will attach to your return
  4. Click Add to create a new copy
  5. Check the box to indicate you will be attaching a statement and click Continue
  6. Enter "Form8949.com" in the Name of brokerage field and click Continue
  7. You will now enter the summary totals by reporting category. Click Add to enter the summary totals for the first reporting category.
  8. Select the reporting category of the summary totals you are entering from the drop down list and click Continue
  9. Enter the total sales proceeds, total cost or other basis, and total adjustment amounts from above for the corresponding reporting category. Click Continue twice
  10. Repeat steps 8 through 10 for each reporting category listed above that needs to be entered.

Note: The cost of Form8949.com services is not included in your TaxAct program fees.


#6 - CSV Import 
If you are able to obtain a CSV file of your transactions from your brokerage, you can use this CSV file to import your transactions into TaxAct. To import the .CSV file into TaxAct:
  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click on the Federal tab. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
  2. Click Investment Income to expand the category and then click Gain or loss on the sale of investments
  3. Click Stock Data Import
  4. Select CSV Import
  5. Browse your computer files to locate the .CSV file.
  6. Click Open (TaxAct Online users must then click Continue).
  7. Use the drop down menus to match the column headings from your file to the appropriate column headings allowed in the program, then click Next. Note: It is the responsibility of the taxpayer/preparer to make sure the columns in their .CSV file match the appropriate fields in the TaxAct program. If these do not accurately match, the program may not calculate the investment sales correctly.
  8. Select any entries you want imported into your tax file. Note: To select all of the transactions, use the checkbox next to the Import column heading. Click Next to continue.
  9. Review the transaction information on the screen. If everything is correct, click Import. If you need to make changes, click Previous to repeat prior CSV import steps.
  10. Close the Import Successful notification window
  11. When you return to the CSV File Import screen, click Continue to review, modify, or delete any of the Form 1099-B data imported into your return.

If you import more than one .CSV file or brokerage statement, the transactions will be added to the list of Form 1099-Bs previously created (up to 2,000 total).

You can also create your own CSV file to import into TaxAct. For more information about this option, click here.