Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Wash sale Help please

94 views
Skip to first unread message

malo...@gmail.com

unread,
May 7, 2013, 9:49:20 AM5/7/13
to
Ok here is my situation, I traded stocks for 2 years and I was mostly unaware of how these differed in terms of tax then straddle trades but i'm coming to realize that I'm in big trouble. i'm a kid who thought he had a good idea and here is what happened. I traded butterfly spreads for credit spreads so for example I bought 40 calls sold 80 of the next higher strike and then bought 40 more calls at the next higher strike netting me 50 bucks or so. I sometimes would make a little more on the trades after the fact but my gains in 2011 were about 20k and i lost about 10k in 2012. but in the trades would be huge amounts. For example i would buy 1m worth of the 40 then sell 2m worth of the 80 calls and then by another million of the 40 calls. so if they all expired worthless i would have 2m of losses and 2m of gains. well i had wash sales in january and well from what I gather because of these wash sales I owe somewhere north of 1m dollars in tax. I make 30k a year and really have no assets at all, and I
don't even have money to pay a lawyer to try and help me straighten this out. What am I supposed to do? this doesn't seem right. I was never trying to evade taxes by selling stock to lock in losses. i never had access to any of the money i supposedly owe, and I never made or probably will never make enough in my lifetime to pay these taxes. any advice out there?

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

Seth

unread,
May 7, 2013, 12:02:40 PM5/7/13
to
In article <a961d70e-dea9-4da8...@googlegroups.com>,
<malo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Ok here is my situation, I traded stocks for 2 years and I was mostly unaware of how these differed in terms of tax then
>straddle trades but i'm coming to realize that I'm in big trouble. i'm a kid who thought he had a good idea and here is
>what happened. I traded butterfly spreads for credit spreads so for example I bought 40 calls sold 80 of the next higher
>strike and then bought 40 more calls at the next higher strike netting me 50 bucks or so. I sometimes would make a little
>more on the trades after the fact but my gains in 2011 were about 20k and i lost about 10k in 2012. but in the trades
>would be huge amounts. For example i would buy 1m worth of the 40 then sell 2m worth of the 80 calls and then by another
>million of the 40 calls. so if they all expired worthless i would have 2m of losses and 2m of gains. well i had wash
>sales in january and well from what I gather because of these wash sales I owe somewhere north of 1m dollars in tax. I
>make 30k a year and really have no assets at all, and I
> don't even have money to pay a lawyer to try and help me straighten this out. What am I supposed to do? this doesn't
>seem right. I was never trying to evade taxes by selling stock to lock in losses. i never had access to any of the money
>i supposedly owe, and I never made or probably will never make enough in my lifetime to pay these taxes. any advice out
>there?

I don't understand. Which January?

Wash sales don't permanently increase taxes, only delay the
recognition of losses.

I assume you got out of each spread in one day.

A wash sale in January 2012 (because you got back in to something
similar within a month) would almost certainly be closed out in 2012
unless the new position was still open in 2013.

Any sale in January 2013 doesn't create tax liability until next year.

If you provide more explicit information it would be possible to
provide a more detailed answer.

Seth

ira smilovitz

unread,
May 7, 2013, 1:06:22 PM5/7/13
to
I agree the original post is less than clear, but here's a scenario that could cause the type of problem I think the OP encountered.

Assume that in late December, the net realized gains for the year are $1M. Assume that somehow it's possible to realize a $1M loss before the end of the month. As of 12/31/xx the net taxable capital gain is $0. Then in January, a new position is opened that creates a wash sale for the late December loss. Now there is a $1M taxable gain to report on the 20xx tax return. Then there's the other half of the double whammy. When the new position is closed, the deferred loss becomes available, but can only be used to offset current/future gains (that is, gains realized after 12/31/xx), or other income at $3K/year.

It's a stiff price to pay for ignorance about how the tax laws work, but ignorance is never a valid excuse.

Ira Smilovitz

Seth

unread,
May 9, 2013, 11:33:26 PM5/9/13
to
In article <70f74e81-1466-4649...@googlegroups.com>,
ira smilovitz <ira.sm...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I agree the original post is less than clear, but here's a scenario that could cause the type of problem I think the OP encountered.
>
>Assume that in late December, the net realized gains for the year are $1M. Assume that somehow it's possible to realize a $1M
>loss before the end of the month. As of 12/31/xx the net taxable capital gain is $0. Then in January, a new position is opened
>that creates a wash sale for the late December loss. Now there is a $1M taxable gain to report on the 20xx tax return. Then
>there's the other half of the double whammy. When the new position is closed, the deferred loss becomes available, but can only
>be used to offset current/future gains (that is, gains realized after 12/31/xx), or other income at $3K/year.

I still don't see how that would work. More likely:

In December, he closes out a trade with a $20,000 profit; one leg has
$1MM loss, another has $1.02MM profit. (Yes, there are actually 3
legs, this simplifies to show the key issue.)

In January (less than 30 days later) he opens a new trade with the
same underlying instrument. That makes the prior loss a wash sale, so
he's stuck with the profit of $1.02MM (and an unrealized loss of
$1MM).

I don't know how to resolve this.

Is it possible to change his fiscal year so that the problem doesn't
occur during any tax year?

Seth

jay_wi...@alumni.pitt.edu

unread,
May 10, 2013, 1:26:16 AM5/10/13
to
On Thursday, May 9, 2013 8:33:26 PM UTC-7, Seth wrote:

>Assume that in late December, the net realized gains for the year are $1M. Assume that somehow it's possible to realize a $1M
>
> >loss before the end of the month. As of 12/31/xx the net taxable capital gain is $0. Then in January, a new position is opened
>
> >that creates a wash sale for the late December loss. Now there is a $1M taxable gain to report on the 20xx tax return. Then
>
> >there's the other half of the double whammy. When the new position is closed, the deferred loss becomes available, but can only
>
> >be used to offset current/future gains (that is, gains realized after 12/31/xx), or other income at $3K/year.
>
>
>
> I still don't see how that would work. More likely:
>
> In December, he closes out a trade with a $20,000 profit; one leg has
>
> $1MM loss, another has $1.02MM profit. (Yes, there are actually 3
> legs, this simplifies to show the key issue.)
> In January (less than 30 days later) he opens a new trade with the
>
> same underlying instrument. That makes the prior loss a wash sale, so
>
> he's stuck with the profit of $1.02MM (and an unrealized loss of
>
> $1MM).
>
> I don't know how to resolve this.>
> Is it possible to change his fiscal year so that the problem doesn't
>
> occur during any tax year?
>
> Seth

Total amateur here, but based on the original post (many trades) the author could be in the business of trading and therefor everything might go onto schedule C. If the business is run on an accrual basis (even cash basis might work depending on how the broker is paid) the gains and losses might be matched in the same tax year.

Jay Wiedwald

removep...@yahoo.com

unread,
May 10, 2013, 4:56:51 PM5/10/13
to
On Tuesday, May 7, 2013 6:49:20 AM UTC-7, malo...@gmail.com wrote:

> Ok here is my situation, I traded stocks for 2 years and I was mostly
> unaware of how these differed in terms of tax then straddle trades but i'm
> coming to realize that I'm in big trouble. i'm a kid who thought he had a
> good idea and here is what happened. I traded butterfly spreads for credit
> spreads so for example I bought 40 calls sold 80 of the next higher strike
> and then bought 40 more calls at the next higher strike netting me 50 bucks
> or so. I sometimes would make a little more on the trades after the fact but
> my gains in 2011 were about 20k and i lost about 10k in 2012.

> but in the trades would be huge amounts. For example i would buy 1m worth
> of the 40 then sell 2m worth of the 80 calls and then by another million of
> the 40 calls. so if they all expired worthless i would have 2m of losses
> and 2m of gains. well i had wash sales in january and well from what I
> gather because of these wash sales I owe somewhere north of 1m dollars in
> tax. I make 30k a year and really have no assets at all, and I
> don't even have money to pay a lawyer to try and help me straighten this
> out. What am I supposed to do? this doesn't seem right. I was never trying
> to evade taxes by selling stock to lock in losses. i never had access to any
> of the money i supposedly owe, and I never made or probably will never make
> enough in my lifetime to pay these taxes. any advice out there?

Are you saying tat in 2012 you had $1M of gains and $1M of losses, but because you bought/sold stock in Jan/2013 the wash sale rule kicked, and your $1M loss was disallowed (although the disallowed loss is carried forward). As a result you have just a huge gain that you have to pay tax on?

Does the 1099-B explicitly say wash sale for some of the sells? That is, is box 5 blank?

As a trader you must be aware of the intricacies of trading, and that means:

(1) Understanding the wash sale rule.

(2) Understand the trader status election. See http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc429.html. This lets you ignore the wash sale for securities that you trade as a trader, as well the $3000 limit on losses. But there are many intricacies, such as whether you trade for a living, etc. It's anyway too late to take trader status on your 2012 tax return.

(3) The Dodd-Frank bill bans certain types of trades that are supposed to be too complex and "undermine" faith in the market. See http://dodd-frank.com/cftc-reiterates-that-wash-trades-are-grave-violations-in-penalizing-two-experienced-traders-for-wash-trading/ which says that wash trades are grave violations subject to prosecution. I remember reading an article over a year ago that gave more details about the types of trades that are banned but can't seem to remember. BTW, intrade.com shut down because of Dodd-Frank.

remove ps

unread,
May 10, 2013, 8:23:43 PM5/10/13
to
jay_wi...@alumni.pitt.edu wrote:

> Total amateur here, but based on the original post (many trades) the
> author could be in the business of trading and therefor everything
> might go onto schedule C. If the business is run on an accrual basis
> (even cash basis might work depending on how the broker is paid) the
> gains and losses might be matched in the same tax year.

To be able to use Schedule C and disregard the wash rule, you must have
made an election with the IRS under section 475 in a previous year.
See my other post.

Seth

unread,
May 11, 2013, 4:19:11 PM5/11/13
to
In article <1bd9c65b-da86-4ebb...@googlegroups.com>,
removep...@yahoo.com <removep...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>(3) The Dodd-Frank bill bans certain types of trades that are
>supposed to be too complex and "undermine" faith in the market. See
>http://dodd-frank.com/cftc-reiterates-that-wash-trades-are-grave-violations-in-penalizing-two-experienced-traders-for-wash-trading/
>which says that wash trades are grave violations subject to
>prosecution. I remember reading an article over a year ago that gave
>more details about the types of trades that are banned but can't seem
>to remember. BTW, intrade.com shut down because of Dodd-Frank.

Wash trades, in that sense, are bogus trades (trades without market
risk). A wash sale isn't.

E.g. if I sell Microsoft stock on April 10th and take a loss on it,
then the price goes down so I think it's a good buy so I buy it back
on May 5th, that's a wash sale. I have full risk, there's no legality
issue (just a tax issue).

On the other hand, if I sell the stock in one account, and
simultaneously buy it in another, that's a wash trade with no risk,
and is banned. (Although if I make a profit, that's really an
arbitrage trade which tends to keep markets in balance.)

Seth

remove ps

unread,
May 11, 2013, 5:12:15 PM5/11/13
to
Seth wrote:

> > (3) The Dodd-Frank bill bans certain types of trades that are
> > supposed to be too complex and "undermine" faith in the market. See
> >
http://dodd-frank.com/cftc-reiterates-that-wash-trades-are-grave-violations-in-penalizing-two-experienced-traders-for-wash-trading/
> > which says that wash trades are grave violations subject to
> > prosecution. I remember reading an article over a year ago that
> > gave more details about the types of trades that are banned but
> > can't seem to remember. BTW, intrade.com shut down because of
> > Dodd-Frank.
>
> Wash trades, in that sense, are bogus trades (trades without market
> risk). A wash sale isn't.
>
> E.g. if I sell Microsoft stock on April 10th and take a loss on it,
> then the price goes down so I think it's a good buy so I buy it back
> on May 5th, that's a wash sale. I have full risk, there's no legality
> issue (just a tax issue).
>
> On the other hand, if I sell the stock in one account, and
> simultaneously buy it in another, that's a wash trade with no risk,
> and is banned. (Although if I make a profit, that's really an
> arbitrage trade which tends to keep markets in balance.)

Well the original poster was buying and selling the same stock, or
options on the same stock. I have no idea if that constitutes a wash
trade.

In any case, selling in one account and buying in another makes no
sense. I have no idea why it should be banned at all.

Seth

unread,
May 13, 2013, 12:51:53 PM5/13/13
to
In article <xn0ihy0s...@news.aioe.org>,
remove ps <removeps...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>In any case, selling in one account and buying in another makes no
>sense. I have no idea why it should be banned at all.

Market manipulation. Doing that increases the apparent volume of
trading, and can affect the reported price. (Consider a
"pump-and-dump" scheme: someone buys a few million shares of a penny
stock, trades it back and forth among different account at increasing
prices until a few weeks later the price is up by a factor of 10 and
the volume looks respectable, then he gets others to buy based on the
apparent trading history.)

Seth

JoeTaxpayer

unread,
May 13, 2013, 1:02:46 PM5/13/13
to
On 5/11/13 4:19 PM, Seth wrote:

> On the other hand, if I sell the stock in one account, and
> simultaneously buy it in another, that's a wash trade with no risk,
> and is banned. (Although if I make a profit, that's really an
> arbitrage trade which tends to keep markets in balance.)

What's banned? If I hold a stock in my cash account and it's above its
purchase price, I may decide that I'd like to keep it long term, just
not in that account. I sell in the cash account (and the gain is negated
by the carried losses from the dot com crash) but buy in in my IRA. Or
were you only referring to selling at a loss?

Barry Margolin

unread,
May 13, 2013, 1:28:48 PM5/13/13
to
In article <kmr648$cr3$1...@dont-email.me>,
JoeTaxpayer <JoeTa...@comcast.net> wrote:

> On 5/11/13 4:19 PM, Seth wrote:
>
> > On the other hand, if I sell the stock in one account, and
> > simultaneously buy it in another, that's a wash trade with no risk,
> > and is banned. (Although if I make a profit, that's really an
> > arbitrage trade which tends to keep markets in balance.)
>
> What's banned? If I hold a stock in my cash account and it's above its
> purchase price, I may decide that I'd like to keep it long term, just
> not in that account. I sell in the cash account (and the gain is negated
> by the carried losses from the dot com crash) but buy in in my IRA. Or
> were you only referring to selling at a loss?

I think he was referring to the same situation as the previous
paragraph, which you didn't quote, which said that it was a loss. "The
other hand" is just the change of the repurchase from being 5 days later
to simultaneously, and doing them in different accounts.

--
Barry Margolin
Arlington, MA

Seth

unread,
May 15, 2013, 1:19:04 AM5/15/13
to
In article <kmr648$cr3$1...@dont-email.me>,
JoeTaxpayer <JoeTa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>On 5/11/13 4:19 PM, Seth wrote:
>
>> On the other hand, if I sell the stock in one account, and
>> simultaneously buy it in another, that's a wash trade with no risk,
>> and is banned. (Although if I make a profit, that's really an
>> arbitrage trade which tends to keep markets in balance.)
>
>What's banned? If I hold a stock in my cash account and it's above its
>purchase price, I may decide that I'd like to keep it long term, just
>not in that account. I sell in the cash account (and the gain is negated
>by the carried losses from the dot com crash) but buy in in my IRA. Or
>were you only referring to selling at a loss?

If the stock is sufficiently liquid that the sale is filled before you
execute the purchase, there's no problem. If it's sufficiently
illiquid that the sale is to yourself, it's a disallowed transaction
(self-dealing in the IRA).

Seth

Rich Carreiro

unread,
May 15, 2013, 4:00:01 PM5/15/13
to
se...@panix.com (Seth) writes:

>If the stock is sufficiently liquid that the sale is filled before you
>execute the purchase, there's no problem. If it's sufficiently
>illiquid that the sale is to yourself, it's a disallowed transaction
>(self-dealing in the IRA).

And of course the easiest way to avoid that is to not place
the purchase order until the sell order has finished executing.

--
Rich Carreiro rlc-...@rlcarr.com
0 new messages