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Helpful Hints
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You can automatically download your SiebertNet transactions through
MyStreetscape for the past ninety days. Select MyStreetScape from the
Automated Brokerage Import section of GainsKeeper's Record Trades tab.
Please select a link to learn more about GainsKeeper:
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Am I under any obligation if I sign up for a trial?
No. GainsKeeper offers a no-risk 30-day free trial. Feel free to try GainsKeeper for 30 days or up to 25 transactions. Only if you choose to purchase a GainsKeeper account will we gather your credit card information.
Who needs a GK account?
Most investors can benefit from GainsKeeper's services. All investor that sold investments in a given year have to file form Schedule D with their taxes. GainsKeeper automates this chore. Long-term investors will also benefit from our corporate action processing, and portfolio optimization tools, while short-term, active traders benefit from our wash sale calculations and gain/loss reconciliation.
Doesn't my 1099 calculate gains and losses?
No. The 1099 identifies the securities you sold throughout the year. Investors then need to match these sales against original purchases, adjusting for corporate actions or wash sales, and then calculate short-term and long-term gains and losses. GainsKeeper automates these steps for you. Simply import your transactions to GainsKeeper and print your Schedule D. It's that easy.
Will my Schedule D be accurate?
GainsKeeper will automatically calculate Schedule D gains and losses from your Siebert account. If you trade with other brokers you must add those transactions to your GainsKeeper account for inclusion on the Schedule D. If applicable, prior year losses being carried forward and additional Schedule D line items must be manually added to your Schedule D.
What are Wash Sales?
A "wash sale" describes trading activity in which you sell shares of a security at a loss and within 30 days you purchase a substantially identical security. The wash sale rule under Section 1091 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is intended to prevent investors from generating and recognizing artificial losses in situations where they do not intend to reduce their holdings in the securities that are sold. For purposes of Sec. 1091, wash sales occur when:
An investor realizes a loss on the sale of a security, and
The investor acquires a "substantially identical" security within a 61-day "window" that extends from 30 days before the date of sale to 30 days after the date of sale.
Note: If you sell a stock and your spouse or a corporation you control buys a substantially identical stock, you also have a wash sale. In these cases, the IRC states that losses from the sale of stock can not be recognized at the time of sale, but must be deferred instead. If you track your spouse's holdings in GainsTracker and a loss is disallowed under the wash sale rule, GainsKeeper automatically increases the cost basis of the newly acquired security (that causes the "nonrecognition") to reflect the
disallowance. This adjustment effectively defers the loss until the investor sells the newly acquired security, at which time the loss can be recognized. You can avoid a wash sale by purchasing a similar security, rather than an identical stock, to the one you sold for a loss. For example, if you sold AltaVista for a loss and you were interested in investing in another search engine stock, then you could buy Yahoo! within the 30 day window and not qualify for a wash sale.
The good news is that GainsTracker monitors and automatically adjusts for wash sales activity that affect the cost basis of your investments which should help keep you out of trouble with the IRS. GainsKeeper's definition of "substantially identical" securities is consistent with the IRC and includes options and convertible bonds. Because preferred stock of a corporation generally provides owners with different rights and benefits, the IRC does not consider it to be substantially identical.
How does GainsKeeper handle mergers, spin-offs, stock splits?
GainsKeeper automatically adjusts portfolios for all mandatory corporate actions, including stock splits, mergers, spin-offs, name changes, etc.
A merger is a combination of two or more companies. If you own a security that merged, GainsKeeper will:
- Calculate the shares you will receive of the new company by using the finalized merger rate and the appropriate tax status.
- Adjust positions, cost basis, acquisition date, and gain/loss where necessary
A spin-off is a corporate disposition of a subsidiary or division of the company. If you own a security that spun-off a division, GainsKeeper will:
- Maintain your shares and holding period of the parent company
- Calculate the shares you will receive of the spun off company by using the finalized rate of distribution
- Allocate cost basis appropriately across parent security and new spun-off company
Stock splits and name changes are also tracked automatically in your GainsKeeper account. Simply enter your original transactions and GainsKeeper does the rest.
What if I file my taxes using Turbo Tax or TaxCut?
GainsKeeper's schedule D is exportable to Turbo Tax and TaxCut. Select ‘Export Data' from the Tax Center tab within your GainsKeeper account to export GainsKeeper's Schedule D to Turbo Tax or TaxCut.
What is Tax-Smart Trading?
GainsKeeper automates realized and unrealized gains and losses in your portfolio. The GainsAdvisor suite of products leverages this information to provide you with tools to minimize your tax liability and increase your after-tax returns. We call this Tax-Smart Trading. Use the Year-End Optimization Tool before year-end to maximize your tax benefit and use the Double Down strategy, Sell Grades, Short-Term Movers, and Wash Sale Avoidance tools year ‘round to maximize after-tax returns.
Can GainsKeeper really save me money off of my taxes?
In most instances, yes. The IRS allows you to write off $3,000 in losses annually against your personal income. To an investor in the 31% tax bracket, a $3,000 net loss will result in a $930 tax savings, just from investment activity. GainsKeeper provides tax strategies before year-end while there is still time for investors to do something about it. The Year-End Tax Optimizer will identify the specific tax-lots to sell to maximize your tax benefit before year-end. The Sell Grade Simulator allows you to s
imulate selling stock(s) to see the implications of you trade before you trade.
If you are over $3,000 in annual net losses the GainsAdvisor tools will provide you with strategies to recognize gains tax-free while still providing opportunities to increase your after-tax percentage returns.
What is the Year-End Tax Optimizer?
GainsKeeper calculates your gains and losses and estimated taxes on your investments before year-end enabling you to make trades to better your tax situation. GainsAdvisor's Year-End Tax Optimizer identifies the optimal securities to sell to maximize your tax benefit. If you do not wish to sell these specific holdings you can use the Sell Grades Simulator to view the tax impact of selling additional stocks before you actually sell them. The Year-end Optimizer can be found in the Tax-Smart section of Gains
Advisor.
What are Sell Grades and how can they help?
GainsKeeper's proprietary Sell Grade statistic measures how tax-favorable each individual tax-lot would be to sell. The higher the Sell Grade the more tax advantageous the specific tax-lot is to sell. One method to increase your after-tax returns is to sell securities by their highest sell grade first, instead of the IRS default First In/First Out (FIFO) method. To learn more about Sell Grades, please visit GainsAdvisor>>Sell Grades once you log into your GainsKeeper account.
How do I avoid Wash Sales?
GainsKeeper identifies those securities that will create a wash sale if they are purchased or sold today. GainsKeeper will also calculate the first day you can trade this security without creating a wash sale and the potential tax impact of trading into the wash sale scenario. To view those securities that will create a wash sale, please visit GainsAdvisor>>Tax-Smart>>Wash Sale Warning once you log into your GainsKeeper account.
What is the Double Down strategy?
If you hold securities that have significantly decreased in value since you purchased them you may consider using the Double Down strategy. The strategy works like this:
- Purchase an equal number of shares for each investment you still wish to hold
- Wait 31 days to avoid wash sales
- Sell your original investment
In 32 days, you will be left with the same stake in your investments, and you will have recognized a large loss for tax purposes.
To view those securities that will create a wash sale, please visit GainsAdvisor>>Tax-Smart>>Double Down once you log into your GainsKeeper account.
What are ST Movers?
ST Movers are tax-lots that will be moving from a short-term holding to a long-term holding within 45 days. Because of the reduced tax rates on long term gains it is better to sell securities that will generate losses while they are still short term, but hold onto gains until they become long-term. To learn more about ST Movers, please visit GainsAdvisor>>ST Movers once you log into your GainsKeeper account.
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