Archive for the ‘Form 8949’ Category
Reporting Capital Gains (and Losses) in 2012
This is a twist on my New Forms series because while Schedule D (the form where you report capital gains) has changed, they’ve also modified Form 1099-B as well as added a new form. First off, just by looking at the new Schedule D, you notice the form has changed quite a bit and there’s several references to a Form 8949. No longer do you report the detail of the your capital gains and losses on Schedule D but you do it on Form 8949 and this information then flows into the more streamlined Schedule D.
And then this all ties into the revised Form 1099-B. Now brokerage firms are required to report cost basis. This is just one more way the IRS is cracking down on things. Before, this information wasn’t reported to the IRS and it was left up to you to compute. Since the IRS isn’t very trusting these days, cost basis is now being reported to the IRS so they can make sure you’re reporting the full extent of your gain. On a good note, since everything is right there on the Form 1099-B, it’ll make filling out the form a little easier because you just drop the appropriate numbers into the right boxes.