Comments on: Step by Step directions on how to enter RSU’s on Turbo Tax Premier

By: MJK

MJK — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:22:45 +0000

KJ:

This is EXACTLY the problem that I’ve been running into. I had RSUs granted in 2006, vesting in 2007, 2008 that I sold in 2010. Approx 1/3 of vesting RSUs sold for tax. TT insists that there MUST be something on my 2010 W2 for these transactions, but there simply isn’t. I’ve decided to just treat them like a stock sale so that it will only take out capital gains tax since the RSU values already hit the 2007 and 2008 W2s.

Very very frustrating and I’ve been beating my head against the (TurboTax) wall for the past several days trying to figure out why TT expects a W2 entry.

~mj

By: Ramkumar Vadivelu

Ramkumar Vadivelu — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:02:25 +0000

Thanks for the great tip. Was banging my head with Turbo Tax when the W2 info was not matching. You really saved the day. Thanks again.

By: WestSeattle

WestSeattle — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:09:33 +0000

What if you get to the last step and the amount TT computes does not match the amount from your W2?

By: KJ

KJ — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:57:31 +0000

Getting involved with my taxes already and was reading your comments from this and prior years. My only comment about RSU and Turbo Tax is that TurboTax2010 does fine when you have vested and sold in the same year. It does not recognize a vested stock that you sell years later that you were taxed on your w2 for the “gift” or the “price” that day. The difference of course is capital gains but TurboTax wants to treat the cost as compensation. If you have been holding onto shares of a stock given to you years ago… you don’t want to be taxed twice. You think you can simply treat the sale as a regular stock sale and it prevents you from doing so because it asks you how you obtained the stock. The way around this is to say the “price” of the stock was what the price was the day you were released the stock. That was the price of couse that was used to compute your earnings which appeared in your w2 years ago..

Does this make sense? Otherwise TurboTax2010 wants to treat the cost basis as compensation and you were already taxed on that .. years ago…

By: Mike in NJ

Mike in NJ — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:50:27 +0000

Your comments above really helped me understand how to do this. I do have two questions:
1. When I decide to sell my vested RSU’s, some time after (but in the same tax year) my sell to cover transaction, do I still fill in Step 7 (Vesting Information) exactly the same as I did for my sell to cover transaction? In other words, do I again fill in the shares witheld for taxes exactly as I did for my STC?
2. If I sell my shares in a later tax year as my STC took place, is the procedure the same?
Mike

By: Fried

Fried — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:54:36 +0000

I just went through the hassle of trying to figure this out for the third year in a row and think I may have. To enter an RSU sell-to-cover transaction, calculate the number of shares sold (not for taxes) as the Net Proceeds plus the Commission and SEC Fees divided by the sell price per share (not the market price needed later). Then, went entering the lot information, subtract this fractional number of shares (which may be one plus a fraction) from the number (whole number) of shares listed as sold to cover taxes from your broker and enter that amount as the number of shares sold to cover taxes in TurboTax. TurboTax Premier 2010 had strange behaviors when I tried zero shares sold. So, I finally tried this and things look much more correct. Good luck!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:42:13 +0000

Hi, I believe for Turbotax2009, the above method does not work under the following conditions:
A) You got vested and did not sell all shares.
B) For the shares you sold, the method described above works
C) For unsold shares; You MUST enter “0″ shares sold and then your calculation will be correct. This will match your W2 totals.
D) If you simply enter the RSU withheld as taxes in the calculation as a sale, then the calculation and the W2 total are going to be incorrect.
Thank you again for the clarity.

By: Eazy

Eazy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:02:10 +0000

Just FYI, I figured it out. I just had to put it in as one transaction, the day I actually sold remaining PSUs. When I did that, I could still specify the vest date, number taken out for taxes, etc.

By: Eazy

Eazy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:59:21 +0000

Wow, this is a great page of information, as I am struggling with the RSU thing! I do have a scenario that TurboTax is not reporting correctly.

On 9/15/09, I received 1500 RSUs, lets just say at $10 that day. On that day, my company withheld 489 shares for tax purposes, so I was left with 1011 shares. On 12/02/09, I decided to sell the 1011 shares, at a loss even for $9.50. In TurboTax I followed your directions above for the first transaction, as it is the same scenario. For the second transaction, I put in the relevant sale info, and the same vesting lot information. Now, TurboTax is showing me as having an investment loss as it should for the year, but in the section where it asks if the RSUs are reportes on your W-2, I say yes, but TurboTax is saying that the amount it calculates is exactly twice what is on my W-2. I’m guessing that this is because I have 2 transacations listed (which is the case) both with the same vesting lot information. How do I fix this? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks again for this info!

By: mreddy

mreddy — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:36:47 +0000

VR…

This step is for reporting the withheld shares by your company…. I doubt you are in violation… because they withheld the share and put it as income on your w-2. But not sure… ask a tax professional.

Now the shares you sold now are exactly similar to buying shares 2 years ago and selling them now. It’s not a RSU type of transaction… I believe. I have not sold any of my vested RSU’s so not sure about that.