Wash-sale and tax-loss checker

Get your CSV from Robinhood

1. On robinhood.com or in the app, open Account, then Reports and statements.
2. Under Reports, generate an account activity report.
3. Pick a range that starts at least 30 days before this year, and earlier if you're selling shares you bought before then, so the checker can see what you paid.
4. Download the CSV when it's ready and drop it in above.

Robinhood sometimes renames menus, so the labels may differ a little.

How the checker works

• Sales are matched to purchases first in, first out, Robinhood's default. Gains count as long-term once you've held for more than a year.
• A loss is a wash sale when you bought the same ticker, or the same option contract, in the 30 days before or after the sale. Shares from the same purchase you sold don't count.
• The deferred loss moves onto the replacement shares, so you can see it come back when they're sold. Chains of wash sales are followed, including across the year end.
• Buying calls on a stock you sold at a loss, or a similar contract on the same underlying, is a gray area. We flag those for you to check but don't change the numbers.
• Transfers, mergers and other corporate actions aren't read yet. If your file has them, we say so instead of guessing.

Before Dec 31

• Check whether this year's gains are short-term or long-term; they're taxed differently.
• Look at open positions with losses, and decide if booking them fits your plan.
• If you sell at a loss, wait 31 days to buy the same thing back, in every account, IRAs included.
• Turn off dividend reinvestment on anything you sell at a loss; a reinvested dividend is a purchase.
• Remember that net losses beyond $3,000 a year carry forward to next year.

Get help with the filing

Some of these links may pay us if you sign up. That doesn't change what we say. Disclosures