Is there a way to set up a report to flag for potential wash sales across multiple trade accounts?

R-Mac

I am looking for a way to generate a report that would show me any position I've sold at a loss within the last 30 days so as to be able to avoid a potential wash sale.... esp one that would migrate into an IRA from a loss in a trade account

Jim_Harman

That's an interesting question.

I would start with the Tax > Capital Gains report. Set the date range to Last 30 days. Subtotal by Security.

Under Accounts in the customization, click on Select all (by default the report does not include tax deferred accounts) 

To reduce unnecessary transactions in the report, under Securities, de-select money market funds and any other securities with a fixed share price, which can't have capital gains. To simplify this step, you may want to create a special Security type "Money Market" and assign it to all of these securities. Then you can exclude them all at once by de-selecting them in Security Types.

Unfortunately I don't see a way to sort or filter this report to just include losses, so you would have to scan the sales to see negative values in the Realized Gain/Loss column. They are red so not too hard to find, or you could export the report to Excel and filter it there.

Tom Young

Since the wash sale window is 30 days before and after the trade date you really need to look 31 days back from "today."

q_lurker

I agree it is an interesting question. There is no current report that applies. 

The cap gains report is a good starting point. You might want to subtotal by security.  The report would give you the sales side of the picture. 

For the buy-side, you might use an investment transaction report limited to buys and reinvestments, also subtotaled by security. 

From there, copying the reports to Excel or similar might aid in the manipulations and examinations. 

Finally, are you sure transactions within an IRA fall into the wash-sale rules?  This is not something I’ve considered before.  Strictly speaking, you are not the ‘owner’ of the IRA account.  Clearly(?) a sale in the IRA would not be a consideration (no capital loss incurred). So why would a buy apply? Just asking. 

Jim_Harman

According to this article from Schwab
https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/a-primer-on-wash-sales

and also here from Bogleheads.org
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Wash_sale

IRA accounts ARE subject to wash sale rules. If you or your spouse sell at a loss in a taxable account and within 30 days buy substantially the same security in your IRA, the loss is disallowed.

Disclaimer: consult your tax adviser.