For the past several years, the IRS has worked to increase e-File reporting.  This is all part of their e-File cost savings initiative.  This is their way of forcing electronic submittal of tax returns.  It saves the government time and money because they don’t have to manually retype our returns into their auditing system. 

Expect to provide details of each investment that you sold during the tax year.  If you plan to complete your own taxes then take advantage of early sales offers to obtain your preparation software and tools.  This way you can try a few experiments before time is critical. 

The reason I recommend obtaining data and using Schedule D software is because otherwise someone will need to manually type each transaction into the tax software.  If you use Schedule D software you can import the data, reconcile the reports and export to a file that your tax software can use.

Action Step -  Decide if you want to learn something new with a little help or if you should hand this project off.  If you need to hand off then gather the information from steps 1, 2 and 3 and go to step 5.  If you are ready to learn how to generate a Schedule D from your data then let's get started:

1. Visit the TradeAccountant home page (select the Home link above).
2. Download the software or use the web version.
3. Work with our support team to get questions answered.
4. Complete your tax reports.
5. Deliver them to your tax adviser or send them, to the IRS, along with your return.