Mysterious $1 difference in Capital Gains between Fed and CA

[TaoWanderer]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NV

Mysterious $1 difference in Capital Gains between Fed and CA

It's showing up as an adjustment, a $1 subtraction (difference between California and federal law) on Sch CA(540NR): California Adjustments on line 13, B. I'm a California Non-Resident. I had over 600 imported stock transactions. I definitely didn't make any adjustments, so why is TurboTax coming up with this, $1 difference?

Is it a bug in the program?

It says I have a capital gain of -1,247 on Fed vs. -1,248 on CA. Should I just leave the dollar be or manually cut it out?

I know this is a TurboTax problem, but this year nobody on their forum seems to be answering any of my questions.

Thank you.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NV

Mysterious $1 difference in Capital Gains between Fed and CA

It's showing up as an adjustment, a $1 subtraction (difference between California and federal law) on Sch CA(540NR): California Adjustments on line 13, B. I'm a California Non-Resident. I had over 600 imported stock transactions. I definitely didn't make any adjustments, so why is TurboTax coming up with this, $1 difference?

Is it a bug in the program?

It says I have a capital gain of -1,247 on Fed vs. -1,248 on CA. Should I just leave the dollar be or manually cut it out?

I know this is a TurboTax problem, but this year nobody on their forum seems to be answering any of my questions.

Thank you.

Sounds to me like an artifact of the rounding process.

 

[LdiJ]

Sounds to me like an artifact of the rounding process.

I agree. I also wouldn't worry about it.

 

[TaoWanderer]

Thank you.

You're probably right on the rounding thing. Strange though that it would round differently on the CA.

So, don't worry about it, as in leave it be or should I fix it to be the same as the Fed?

 

[tranquility]

Do you make the trades personally, or does your broker just manage your account?

 

[TaoWanderer]

Do you make the trades personally, or does your broker just manage your account?

Yes, I was actively trading on and off in 2009, to no avail as you can see.

 

[tranquility]

Yes, I was actively trading

This was my concern, are you an investor or a trader? While 600 trades alone does not a trader make, it is a high enough number to make me consider if you are looking for appreciation or market movement.

Schedule D is for investors. Schedule C is for traders.

 

[TaoWanderer]

This was my concern, are you an investor or a trader? While 600 trades alone does not a trader make, it is a high enough number to make me consider if you are looking for appreciation or market movement.

Schedule D is for investors. Schedule C is for traders.

Well it was over 600 imported transactions, but I noticed they sometimes report 1 order in several transactions if the order went through in several chunks. Also some are just wash sale adjustments. I was doing day trading trying to catch short term momentum. I did a lot of trades in several short time period and had long breaks in between. I only read 1 article about the trader vs investor thing, but it kinda seemed like I would fall more into the investor side, what do you think?

 

[tranquility]

It's a facts and circumstances issue which could benefit you depending on the numbers. See:

Tax Topics - Topic 429 Traders in Securities (Information for Form 1040 Filers)