求教future大牛

phph

请问trade future (ES or YM, etc.) 报税是不是很简单。


trade stock or stock options 仍有wash sale限制，且每笔交易都要在schedule D上列出，计算得失。

trade future没有wash sale限制，而且不需在schedule D上列出每笔交易，broker会给一个总表，在schedule D上
填入即可，而且如果有gain的话，60%归long term gain.

是否如此？多谢大牛。

phph

大牛？

suhui

NOT大牛, but you are right about the tax for ES future or future option trading. 不需在schedule D上列出每笔交易，broker会给一个总表, if I remember correctly you do not need to list on schedule D.

Forevergreen

Reporting capital gains from futures trading is not quite the same as when trading stocks and options.

Capital gains from trading IRS Section 1256 contracts such as commodity futures, index futures, and index options are reported by your brokerage 1099-B (or 1099-C for tax years prior to 2006).

What is a futures contract?
According to IRS publication 550 pages 50 and 51:

A commodity futures contract is a standardized, exchange-traded contract for the sale or purchase of a fixed amount of a commodity at a futures date for a fixed price. If the contract is a regulated futures contract, the rules described under Section 1256 contracts marked to market apply to it. The termination of a commodity futures contract generally results in capital gain or loss.
What is a Section 1256 Contract?
According to IRS publication 550 page 39:

A Section 1256 contract is any:
1. Regulated futures contract

2. Foreign currency contract

3. Non-equity option
And on page 40 under the Non-equity option heading:

Non-equity options include debt options, commodity futures options, currency options, and broad-based stock index options. A broad-based stock index is based upon the value of a group of diversified stocks or securities (such as the Standard and Poor's 500 index).
Good news for active traders:
The good news for traders of Section 1256 contracts is threefold:

60% of the capital gain or loss from Section 1256 Contracts is deemed to be long-term capital gain or loss and 40% is deemed to be short-term capital gain or loss. What this means is a more favorable tax treatment of 60% of your gains.
A special loss carry-back election is allowed. Section 1256 contract net losses can be carried back 3 years instead of being carried forward to the following year. These losses can only be carried back to a year in which there is a net Section 1256 contracts gain, and only to the extent of such gain, and cannot increase or produce a net operating loss for the year. The loss is carried back to the earliest carry-back year first and any unabsorbed loss can then be carried to each of the next two years.  So if you have a net loss for the year, you can amend a previous year's tax return and possibly get a refund!
Your broker marks all of your open positions to market and reports the total gain or loss on a 1099.  The gain or loss and the 60/40 split from these contracts are reported on IRS Form 6781 (Gains and Losses from Section 1256 Contracts and Straddles).

Part I, Line 2 of this form simply asks for your broker-provided 1099 total gain or loss, and then it splits this loss as 40% short-term on Line 8, and 60% long-term on Line 9.  These entries then flow to your Schedule D - Part I, Line 4 for short-term capital gains and Part II, Line 11 for long-term capital gains.

No additional detail or complex matched trade report (as required for capital gains from stock, options, and single-stock-futures) is required.

phph

回复 4# Forevergreen

很有用的信息。好像看懂了一点。

1.
那么qqqq,spy的option也是属于Section 1256 Contracts的，对吗？
qqqq,spy的option不受wash sale rule的影响，就像es,nq,ym一样。

2.
fas,faz,tna之类的option也一样吗？
属于Section 1256 Contracts，不受wash sale rule的影响。

谢大牛。

phph

回复 4# Forevergreen


   Is qqqq OR SPY option  Section 1256 contracts?

Thanks.