Thanks for the input, Bob, bread, and Tad. The decision appears to be
unanimous. I will strongly consider just using my brokers' 1099-Div totals.
Caveats about foreign positions are noted.

Elle wrote:
- quote -

I misunderstood, I guess my answer is "I can't imagine why I'd put more
on Schedule B than the IRS requires".

The only thing I could think of is if you used your Sked B to keep track
of reinvested dividends (for cost basis reasons, if you're reinvesting
dividends) - eg you look back over your old tax returns to figure out
cost basis. But that's a hard way to do it, it's a lot easier to just
keep that end of year statement from your broker and leave that
unnecessary detail off your tax return.

-Tad

"Tad Borek" <borekfm[at]pacbell.net> wrote
- quote -

I guess I wasn't clear enough. I know the IRS allows entry of just the
1099-Div total dividend amount, broker by broker. My question is what people
have found works best for them as far as record keeping etc. is concerned.

On 2006-02-10 13:12:40 -0500, "Elle" <honda.lioness[at]nospam.earthlink.net> said:

- quote -

I pull them off the brokerage 1099.

I keep the detailed brokerage year-end summary, which breaks it down
by individual security. I also have it all in Quicken on my computer.
But I see no reason to put more numbers (and therefore more chances
for transcription error, etc) onto the tax forms.

--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting

zxcvbob <zxcvbob[at]charter.net> writes:

- quote -

Then you lose. You can't claim the foreign tax credit for taxes
paid by investments held in IRAs/401(k)s/etc.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

- quote -


What if you have foreign taxes paid and it wasn't reported anywhere? (I
assume the answer is that I can't claim it) My Roth IRA paid about $20
to S. Korea and there was no 1099-DIV because it's an IRA.

Because the number is small, I was thinking about putting it on my 1040
and see what happens.

I also might sell the Korean ADR and buying it back in my taxable
account before the next ex-dividend date to avoid this problem.

Bob

Tad Borek <borekfm[at]pacbell.net> writes:

- quote -

However, if your only foreign taxes paid are those reported on
1099-DIV, and the total is $300 or less ($600 or less if MFJ),
you can report the total right on the appropriate line of 1040,
without having to go through the hell of 1116 and the per-country
stuff that Tad talks about.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

Elle wrote:
- quote -


Elle,
Just make sure that each 1099-DIV is represented on Schedule B as a
separate line and you'll be fine. List the broker/custodian, not the
company, as the payer - whoever issued the 1099-DIV is the payer. If you
have one broker you have one payer, if you have 20 DRIPS custodied in
different places you have 20 1099-DIVs and 20 payers.

It's not necessary to separate out the dividends by individual security.
Many brokerage firms now provide that info appended to your 1099-DIV
but it's just for your own information, it is NOT reported to the IRS.

EXCEPTION where the individual payer is needed: if you hold a foreign
stock (ADR, etc.), and there was "Foreign Tax Paid" on a dividend from
that holding, it's important to track down the total dividends paid by
that security. If you file to take a tax credit for foreign taxes, the
form asks you to list the total income and country associated with the
foreign tax paid. So you might have say a $550.00 total dividend, $117
foreign tax paid. You see that it's from a German stock, you list
Germany as the source and $550 as the income from that source, and
you're able to take the $117 credit against your US tax return.

-Tad

Elle wrote:

- quote -


I always use the cumulative amounts my broker reports on the 1099's,
even if I don't think it's correct, as long as it is close.

Bob

How do people complete the ordinary dividends section of 1040 Sch. B?

The IRS says one may simply use what one's brokerage houses' 1099-Div forms
say (which is a grand total, not broken down, for purposes of recording on
Sch. B; very easy, though one should check the numbers). Or I gather one may
record each stock's particular, applicable dividend for the year on the Sch.
B.

In the past I've done it the second way. It's more work every year. On the
other hand, since I save copies of my tax forms for ever, and have at times
certainly looked back at them for information, I get the feeling I may one
day want a nice summary and so should do the extra work.

Obviously this is subjective. I'm just interested in what people have found
works best.