John wrote:
- quote -

Free advice: Vote with your feet.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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"Harlan Lunsford" <lunstax[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Both brokers told me "the report is standarized". When I
told them that somebody was going have to do it by hand, I
got only nervous giggles. I guess I get to find new brokers!

Why would they have standard reports that don't work
properly; they are screwing their best customers.

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- quote -

You could just ignore the 5 year entry. It will cost you
nothing if your income subject to ordinary rates is in the
25% bracket or above. Otherwise it will cost you at most 2%
of the gains.

--
Don EA in Upstate NY

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John wrote:

- quote -

Do you You mean May 6th.

- quote -

Brokers provide this information as a convenience for
clients. They are not obligated to do it. If you try to
"make the brokers redo it", they may just tell you to take a
hike.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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John[at]john.com posted:

- quote -

2003 is perhaps the most complex tax year ever, for active
traders. Here are the classes of stock transactions:

1. Short Term gains/losses -- ordinary income rates, as
usual. Standard offsets -- S/T first, etc.

2. Long Term disposition before May 5, with a subset of the
special 8% rate for qualified 5-year gains.

3. Post-May 5 Long Term gains -- New, maximum rate of 15%
(5% in lowest bracket).

4. The good, old 28% gain.

5. Plus, this *special bonus* -- Qualified Dividends (your
broker will probably have noted any that meet the
standards), are taxed at a 15%/5% rate -- and even though
they are reported on Schedule B, and broken out on line 9b,
they enter into the Schedule D calculations.

That's why you have all the special categories of reports.
Now, the reference to May 1st might relate to the "Trade
date" vs. "Settlement date" issue. [Note: Schedule D
instructions speak of "dispositions" after May 5 ... which
TaxCut might be construing as "settlements". Please observe
that this is a _guess. Usually, the trade date is the
reported date ... but "dispositions" does suggest a curve
ball.] You should ask TaxCut about this issue.

Bill

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John wrote:

- quote -

For a few years, assets held longer than 5 years was subject
to a lower capital gains tax rate if you are in the 15% or
less tax bracket. Taxes for ALL capital gains were lowered
effective May 1st, so this doesn't apply any more. Your
categories NOW are

I. Short term gain/loss (I don't know whether that's divided
on whether it's before or after May 1; it depends on the order
of netting transaction.)
II. Long term gain/loss
A. Recognized after May 1.
B. Recognized before May 1.
1. Gains on assets held over 5 years.
2. All other gains/losses.

This ignores unrecaptured section 1250 gain, and 28%
gain/loss, which are unlikely to occur in assets in a
brokerage account.

Have I missed any other capital gain/loss classes?

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"John" <John[at]john.com> writes:

- quote -

The tax law for capital gains changed on 1 May 2003. For
long-term gains on sales after 1 May, the tax rate is 5%/15%.
For long-term gains on sales before 1 May, the tax rate
is 10%/20%, unless it was held more than 5 years, in which
case for some people the tax rate can be 8%.

- quote -

If you can convince them to. Otherwise you'll have
to redo it yourself (or put all the individual entries
on Sched D).

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

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I have two active brokerage accounts, with lots of
transactions. The brokers have broken them down by long and
short term, so I make 4 entries to my Schedule D and attach
the details.

Now I am filling out my returns on TaxCut, and there is a
new catagory; longer than 5 years and sold before May 1st!

What is this all about? Do I have to make the brokers redo
it?

thanks.

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