Disclaimer – you are not my tax preparer
I sold some stock (was a stock purchase plan at work. We got a new plan, and the old plan was closing with no way to transfer to new plan, had to either sell or create a brokerage account. I sold half last year and half this [deadline was Jan 31])
My 1099-B has 4 entries, the first 3 are pretty easy, they have date purchased,proceeds (1d) and cost (1e) and are marked “long term” box 12 checked
“Applicable on form 8849” is D
The 4th entry does not have a date , does have 1d, but not 1e. box 5 is yes 7 and 12 are no, and “Applicable on form 8849” is X
Now I am 99% sure this is a long term item and have no idea what the price I paid was (I don’t care that much, even if this raises my taxes)
The tax site I use (TaxAct) allows “various” for purchase dates and looks like I can enter a grand total, but should I do that for the 3 "D"s and then enter a separate entry for the 4th entry (with an “E” code )
I don’t know the answer to your question, but make sure you’re working with the latest 1099B from your brokerage. A preliminary 1099 is sent out in January with what may be preliminary information on it. You may find an updated one available on whatever vendor you’re using that would have come out after Feb 14. Usually the updated changes are about cost basis, but there’s may be other fixes to the information.
What squeegee said is true for a 1099-DIV (dividends sometimes get re-characterized), but your stock sales aren’t going to change, so you’re fine going with the current 1099-B. Yes the last sale should be reported separately as another long term sale. It’s a non-covered sale, which is why they don’t show you a basis for it (or report one to the IRS), and it will go on a separate line. Depending on what your income level is, not listing a basis may or may not affect your tax liability, since capital gains aren’t treated as ordinary income.
This wasn’t true in my case. For my RSU sales, the cost basis was wildly wrong on the initial 1099 and correct on the supplemental. The OPs shares sound like ESPP shares, so perhaps this doesn’t apply, but the supplemental 1099 is out by now and the OP should look for it. Using the supplemental saved me quite a bit of taxes.
When the reporting requirement went into effect in 2012, the IRS specifically asked that pre-2012 purchases NOT be reported. The broker’s standards for “basis” may not have been the same as IRS regulations.
If you want to know the basis, I’d check your monthly statement for the month before you sold the stock. If the broker had any basis whatsoever, it should be on that statement. It may also be on the monthly statement in which you sold the stock.