Schedule D -- Capital Gains and Losses

If you sold a stock, bond, option or mutual fund, a completed Schedule D should pop out from your tax prep software. Of course, this is assuming you pulled the appropriate information off your Form 1099-Bs -- Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange and input it correctly into your tax program.

To accurately report a trade, the date of purchase, date of sale, purchase price and sale price should all be included. If a share that you sold was purchased continually over a period of time, or you had an automatic monthly investment into a mutual fund that you sold, you may just input "Various" in the date purchased column. A previous story provides an example.

Remember, you can only deduct losses to the extent that you have capital gains, plus another $3,000. Any unused losses can be carried forward indefinitely. So don't call up TurboTax screaming bloody murder if you don't see a massive net loss on your completed Schedule D.

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