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Capital Gains includes the Fee?

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kking18474

13 Feb, 2017 04:35 AM

I think I just discovered what in MD is causing me pain in Capital Gains reports. MD is calculating cost basis and sale proceeds in a way that I don't understand.
My context is that I am a US taxpayer accustomed to looking at 1099-B statements on my securities.
My securities only incur a transaction fee in a sale, not a buy.
Therefore purchasing 10 shares of security XYX @ $10 leads to a cost basis of $100
Later proceeds from a sale of 10 shares of XYX @ $11 with a transaction fee of $.02 means I get $109.98.
on my 1099-B, this shows as proceeds of $109.98 minus the original cost basis of $100, for a capital gain of $9.98.

But on my MD Capital Gains report it shows the proceeds of $110.00 minus original cost basis of $100.02, for a gain of $9.98.
In this simple example, one might say, "so what, the gain is correct?" but life is not so simple. Take this adjustment across multiple lots across both short term and long term sales and MD is no longer able to spread the .02 transaction fee proportionally over all the lots. So... Why not just leave it out??
I am a former Quicken user and it always excluded the transaction fee from the capital gain report, and this was not an issue in my past.
Is this the way MD must work or am I incorrectly inputting the transaction fee? Please tell me I've got this wrong.

I could more easily accept that MD was including in the transaction fee in my proceeds calculation, but why oh why would it alter my cost basis?
I need a new program to handle my investments if this is the case, any suggestions?
KK

1. 1 Posted by kking18474 on 15 Feb, 2017 12:51 PM

   

   I found that if I just eliminate the fee, holding to the correct sale quantity and total proceeds (letting the sale price auto-adjust to an incorrect price) that I can work around this issue. Is this the recommendation for this resolution?
   By handling it this way I'll get incorrect sale prices, but the gain is calculated correctly for the Capital Gain/Loss report.

   Anyone else struggling with this?
   KK

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2. 2 Posted by JJ on 17 Feb, 2017 05:44 AM

   

   I just wanted to chime in as I've been having a similar issue as you. However, in my case when there is a fee added to the sale, the fee gets added to the cost basis AND the sell price, which is rather annoying and I can't seem to fix it. Your explanation is a bandage fix for me at best, not sure if they are looking into this.

   J

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3. 3 Posted by kking18474 on 17 Feb, 2017 06:02 AM

   

   Yes its getting added to BOTH in my case as well. I made the comment that I was more surprised that they added it to the Basis, but it is indeed added to both.

   Thanks for validating this. They have not let me know that they are working on it. I'm working on a separate spreadsheet for my 2016 gains as a result for the short term. After Taxes I'd like to see this fixed or find a way to create a new report using the correct numbers.

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4. 4 Posted by JJ on 17 Feb, 2017 03:24 PM

   

   Agreed, I've tried searching the forum but similar issues have been raised over a year ago with no solid resolution. I'd love to have the capital gains report be more modifiable in the parameters, perhaps implementing a way to add line items for categories (whether it be fees or commissions that affect the cost basis in realizing gains).

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5. System closed this discussion on 19 May, 2017 03:30 PM.

6. kking18474 re-opened this discussion on 01 Feb, 2018 02:15 PM

7. 5 Posted by kking18474 on 01 Feb, 2018 02:15 PM

   

   Tax time again, and I'm creating my own CapitalGains report in Excel since MD doesn't have a usable report. I'm not a developer, but pretty handy with scripting and python. I'd love to create a report extension that covered this feature, seems like there would be a decent call for it. Anyone have advice on creating new reports?

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8. System closed this discussion on 03 May, 2018 02:20 PM.