Capital Gains Estimator incorrect Loss Carryover

Robin

With my Quicken data file, the Capital Gains Estimator is insistent on using a $100,000 Short Term Loss Carryover no matter what values I try to enter into the Estimator tool. I have tried selecting the 'Enter different values' option and entering positive, negative and zero values in the form, but as soon as I hit 'Next', those values disappear and the Detailed Calculations for Before Proposed Sales and After Proposed Sales use a short term loss carryover value of $100K.

I have checked the Tax Planner and the carryover loss values are zero for both short and long term. I have tried 'Update YTD capital gains', I have run a Validate & Repair on my Quicken file including Validate and Rebuild investing lots. I have no placeholder entries. The $100K loss carryover does not appear on any other report or tool I can find. I'm totally frustrated at trying to find and correct this issue.

Does anyone have any ideas? In am running Quicken Windows 2019 R21.17.

hinkej

I have this same issue. No matter what I do, the $3000 loss carryover will not go away or reset. I spent 1-1/2 hours with chat support yesterday to no avail. Doesn't anyone else use this tool? Please help.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @hinkej

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to report your issue, although I apologize that you have not yet received a response.

We'll need a bit more information to be able to assist.

Please take a moment to review the information available here and post back to let us know what release of Quicken you are using. 

Are you able to capture a screenshot of the issues you are seeing? 

The more information you can provide regarding this issue will help the Community to better understand and assist.

Thank you,

-Quicken Tyka

hinkej

Hi Tyka, Thanks for your response. My version is 2020 (subscription) , Version R30.19, Build 27.1.30.19. I do not have the editing tools showing above my post so cannot add the screenshots i have captured. Can you tell me why that might be? I've tried two different browsers, Firefox and Edge

hinkej

Tyka, In the what-if scenarios, I have selected stocks to sell that will generate ~$6000, with ~$3000 being the gain. With no carryovers, this should generate ~$450 of increased fed taxes (15% of 3000). The first sign of an issue is that the Total Gross Proceeds results shows an estimated Fed and State tax impact of $4. The problem is shown succinctly when the before and after Details at the bottom of the what-if screen are expanded. In the photos I cannot post, you could see that there is a $3000 loss carryover that is ALWAYS applied. I have used the Tax Planner carryover Rates which show $0 for loss carryovers, and I have set them manually to 0 as well. But the $3000 loss carryover is now forever permanently embedded in my results. I cant seem to clear it out.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @hinkej

Thank you for taking the time to capture a screenshot. To share the screenshot with the Community, please drag the image into the comment box.

This will link the screenshot to the comment and allow us to see the image.

I apologize for any confusion on the steps for sharing a screenshot with the Community.

Thank you,
-Quicken Tyka

hinkej

Tyka, Thanks for the instruction. here are the screenshots.

Jeff

Jim_Harman

Do you have a capital loss carry over from previous years?

The 3000 may have to do with the limit you are allowed to deduct.

hinkej

Not any more. I had a loss carryover several years ago, but the last bit of that was used on my 2018 tax form. I did use the Quicken capital gains estimator (Q2017) back then with the -$3000 value. At this point, I'm avoiding using the Quicken tax planner as not enough of my downloaded transactions are handled correctly for it to be useful. No matter, it has a current $0 carryover value in it anyway. Alternatively, I have manually entered the carryover in the CG Estimator to be as $0 as well, but the CG Estimator loss carryover remains at -$3000 no matter what. There apparently is no way to totally clear the CG Estimator values to start from scratch.

So I am left with entering the sale transaction(s) "for real" for what I am researching, then running Quicken's capital gains report to get the info I am looking for, and then deleting those sale transactions. It's more work, and with the Estimator tool available for this purpose, it's work that shouldn't have to be done. And doing "what if's" in this manner are clumsy, at the least. Alternatively, an EXCEL spreadsheet could be used but that has its own set of issues.

It seems that a coded variable, or more than one, in the CG Estimator are "stuck" and a fix should be provided. The CG Estimator could be a useful tool if a few issues could be sorted, this being one. I think it needs a good scrubbing by the software team.

The print output also is not very useful. If Step 2 is expanded to show lots, and there are enough lots to get a scroll bar, the only lots that show in the printout are whats visible on the screen.

hinkej

Just to close this subject out. I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Tech Support. They feel that the issue is somewhere in my file, although it validates ok. It seems to me that selecting or setting the gain/loss carryover values in the CGE estimator should properly fill the fields with the inputted data, as opposed to always setting the gain/loss to $-3000. In the end they could not offer a solution.

I also asked if there was a transaction report that could provide me proper data to make my own CGE in a spreadsheet using the report data as input to Excel. The requirements being having the proper "cost basis" (amount invested is available) and the "date acquired" which is not available in any report. This field is needed in my case as the actual buy transactions have changed to ADD transactions due to previous transfer of securities to different brokerage account leaving the individual lots represented by ADD transactions. The Date Acquired is part of the Add transaction, but not available in any report, only the date of the Add transaction is available. So no-go there either.

So I leave this discussion disappointed. My best solution right now is to actually put the desired buy/sell transactions in the file and run the Capital Gains report to get results. Then back it all out again. This makes it clumsy if you are evaluating anything other than the sale of all lots for a security something the CGE made easy.

Does anyone know a way to populate a new file with ~30 years of data from a supposedly corrupt old file?
Thanks for listening
Jeff

hdhoskins

I have the identical problem, also in subscription Premiere. Is there any way to reset the CGE module?

hinkej

hdhoskins: First of all, welcome to the (one-sided) discussion. I'm glad to hear that I am not the only one in the Quicken world that suffers this anomaly!

The whole episode with customer support was me discussing the issue with the support tech (who had visual access to my screen), who would go away and talk with a (I'm guessing here) a member of the software development team. He would be gone for long periods of time, once as long as 10 minutes.

One of my questions centered on your question above. When I suggested that there should be some way to reset the CGE software parameters, or module, to baseline or startup values, he went away for awhile, came back, and said that only modification of the three existing scenarios is possible and there is no way to reset the parameters, or module.

Which is crazy. The CGE itself offers a screen specifically to set the gain/loss carryover values, and they don't work. So, in my opinion, after working as an engineer in the Hardware/Software Systems industry for almost 30 years, that they have a bug, that doesn't affect many people, Its difficult to fix, and they are not willing to fix it for those it does cause an issue for. Again, I'm disappointed.

They never suggested starting a new file, as I had told them up front that the CGE did work in a test file I did), but I couldn't abandon my current file with so many years of history with small lots, odd number of shares, and complicated cost basis scenarios.
Jeff

kla4503

This is for @hinkej: In response to your Feb 3, 2020 request:
"I also asked if there was a transaction report that could provide me proper data to make my own CGE in a spreadsheet using the report data as input to Excel."

I learned this from another community post. It is from a view, not a report. It will provide you with all lot detail as of the selected date.
1. Go to Investing tab, sub-tab Portfolio.
1.a. For "Show:" choose either Value or create a Custom view (farther down in selection and you can name it, which is what I did).
1.b. For "Group by:" choose Accounts (this is important).
1.c. (optional) From the Customize button, you can modify the Columns shown, the Accounts you want to include, and Securities you want.

2. Next (important), at the bottom, choose "Expand All" button to expand to the lot detail.
3. Now, top menu, click "File" and you will have a choice mid way down of "Print Portfolio... Ctrl+P". A Print dialog appears where you choose "Export to:" and choose from the file type, "tab-delimited (Excel compatible) disk file" then "Export". Name/Save the .txt file.
4. Then open .txt file in Excel.

It is in a report format, but I was able to write some simple VBA code to put it into an Excel table format pretty easily. I would suggest creating a Custom View under Investing/Portfolio, because it will remember the accounts/columns you want to export to simplify updating your spreadsheet.

I came to this thread b/c I have the same "stuck loss carry-over". It does not match anything in my current data nor in the Tax Planner. I use data from my QWin reports in an Excel spreadsheet b/c Tax Planner lacks enough detail for me. I like the idea of the Capital Gains algorithm and it is helpful to scan for lots to sell and total them. I wish it had more columns like the holdings view. But, you are correct that it lacks the ability to cut/paste to a spreadsheet/report.

hinkej

This is for @kla4503. Thanks for pointing out this method to me. It is indeed superior to the method I used for capturing lot data, and I will use it in future Capital gains estimates. I've already "developed" my own CGE using the data extracted in the method I described in February but when winter tax season rolls around, I'll update it to use this data extraction method. Thanks again.

I also avoid the Tax Planner in QWin. I have my own spreadsheet (for each tax year) that I start well before the beginning of each calendar year, using my best estimates of income and deductions, and update that file regularly during the year, so I have a pretty good understanding of my tax situation by year's end. The CGE results are (manually) included as part of that process. Over the years, the tax spreadsheet has become progressively more sophisticated (it will never replace TurboTax), handling both Fed and State, Different types of income (nothing out of the ordinary) and I like having early visibility into my tax situation.

And if the Quicken people are listening, the CGE has potential. It would sure be nice if you would do a relatively major upgrade to it to fix its bugs, and improve the input and output capabilities.