Welcome to the community, CosmicCruiser! Your situation sounds very similar to what others have described here, and it's great that you're getting it sorted out before filing. The work relocation scenario is actually pretty common - I've seen several cases where people have to sell and buy within the same tax year due to job changes. One thing to double-check with your October purchase - make sure you're calculating the average balance correctly for just the October-December period when you owned that second home. So if you closed in mid-October, you'd prorate that first month. It might not make a huge difference in the final number, but it's worth being precise. Also, keep all your HUD-1 settlement statements or closing disclosures from both transactions. They'll show exactly when you took ownership and can help support your timeline if there are ever any questions. The documentation approach that Logan and Freya outlined is spot-on - I always feel more confident filing when I have that paper trail backing up my calculations. Good luck with your filing, and glad this discussion could help clear things up!

I've used TurboTax Premier in the past, but it struggled with the chaining between covered and non-covered securities. Did you have to manually identify the wash sale chains, or did the software somehow figure that out automatically?

The software wasn't able to automatically identify chains between covered and non-covered securities. I had to manually review the transactions and make adjustments where the wash sales crossed between the two types. What worked for me was first importing everything from my brokerage. Then I reviewed each transaction with a loss to see if there were any purchases within the 30-day window before or after. For those that triggered wash sales between different security types, I manually adjusted the basis. It's definitely not perfect, but it saved me from having to create the forms from scratch. The key is understanding which transactions the software might miss so you can focus your manual review efforts there. In my case, I found it helpful to create a simple timeline of all transactions and mark the wash sale periods to visually identify potential issues.

This is exactly what I was hoping to find! My situation is almost identical - I'm looking at around 50+ lines and the complexity is getting overwhelming. A few follow-up questions if you don't mind: 1. How detailed was the explanatory statement? Did it include every single transaction or just the key wash sale chains? 2. When you say the totals matched what would have been reported line-by-line, did you verify this by actually calculating it both ways? 3. Any issues during processing or correspondence from the IRS afterward? I'm really tempted to go this route since manually entering 50+ lines seems like a recipe for errors, and the summarized approach sounds much more manageable while still being compliant.

Great questions! Here are the details from my experience: 1. The explanatory statement was quite comprehensive - it included every transaction with dates, quantities, and prices, plus a clear table showing how each wash sale was calculated and which transactions were involved in each chain. My CPA said the IRS wants to see that you understand the rules and applied them correctly. 2. Yes, we absolutely verified by calculating both ways. I actually started doing it line-by-line first, got overwhelmed, and then my CPA suggested the summary approach. We double-checked that the total gain/loss and basis adjustments were identical between the two methods. 3. No issues at all during processing, and it's been over a year with no correspondence. The key was making sure everything was properly documented and that our summary accurately reflected all the wash sale adjustments. One tip: make sure your explanatory statement clearly identifies which transactions are covered vs. non-covered, and show the wash sale chains separately for each type. This helps demonstrate that you properly handled the distinction that causes so many issues with broker reporting. The peace of mind from having clean, organized forms was worth it, especially since the alternative was 70+ lines with high potential for data entry errors.

1 Oh that's a good point I hadn't considered! Does that mean I should open a bank account with my brand name too? Or can I deposit checks made out to my brand into my personal account?

22 If you're operating as a sole proprietor with a DBA (which sounds like your situation), you'll need to check with your specific bank. Some banks will let you deposit checks made out to your DBA name into your personal account if you've provided them documentation showing you operate under that name. To be safe, many artists open a separate bank account for their business activities. Some banks offer business checking accounts for sole proprietors where you can register your DBA name on the account. This makes depositing checks made out to your brand name much easier and also helps keep your business finances separate from personal ones, which is helpful for tax purposes.

19 This is actually bad advice. While you might get away with it, using an unregistered business name could potentially violate local DBA registration requirements depending on where you live. Many states require you to register your DBA before doing business under that name.

You're right that it's important to check local requirements! I just looked into my state's DBA rules after seeing your comment, and it turns out I do need to register if I want to open a business bank account under my brand name. The registration was pretty simple though - just a form and small fee at the county clerk's office. It's probably worth doing it properly from the start to avoid any complications down the road.

Thanks for sharing this! It's really helpful to hear from someone who went through the exact same thing. 4-5 weeks feels manageable, especially knowing it resolved automatically. I'm definitely going to keep checking my transcript daily and watching the mail like a hawk. Your point about routine income verification makes sense - I did file pretty early so maybe my employer's stuff wasn't fully processed yet. Really appreciate the reassurance! 🙏

I feel you completely! Same situation here - filed early, simple return, and now stuck in limbo with this 570 code. The daily transcript checking becomes an obsession real quick 😅 At least we're not alone in this! Reading everyone's experiences here is definitely helping calm my nerves. Fingers crossed we both see some movement in the next few weeks. Keep me posted on how yours goes!

I tried using TurboTax for my German pension and it was a disaster. The software doesn't properly guide you through the foreign tax credit forms for specific types of foreign income. It also doesn't incorporate tax treaty provisions automatically - you have to know which ones apply to your situation. I ended up using a specialized expat tax service and they found that I'd been reporting things incorrectly for years. If your situation is simple, regular tax software might work, but for foreign pensions, I wouldn't risk it.

This is incredibly helpful, thank you! I'm just starting to navigate this whole situation and feeling pretty overwhelmed. Quick question - when you mention getting "official French documentation," are you talking about something specific from the French pension authority? I have my regular pension statements, but I'm not sure if those clearly spell out the work-related disability classification in a way the IRS would want to see. Also, for the voluntary disclosure process you went through - was it as scary as it sounds? I'm worried I might be in a similar boat since I've been filing US taxes for years without reporting this French income.