Are Brokerage Commissions & Fees Tax Deductible for 2025 Filing?

These brokerage commissions and fees are generally already included in your cost basis and proceeds calculations on your 1099-B from TDAmeritrade. This means when you buy a security, the commission is added to your cost basis, and when you sell, the commission reduces your proceeds. For example, if you bought a stock for $1,000 and paid a $10 commission, your cost basis would be $1,010. If you later sold it for $1,500 and paid another $10 commission, your proceeds would be $1,490. The difference ($1,490 - $1,010 = $480) is your capital gain that gets reported. You should check your 1099-B statement carefully - it should indicate whether the amounts reported include these fees. Most modern brokerages automatically adjust the cost basis and proceeds to include these fees in their tax reporting.

I went through this exact same headache last year with my TDAmeritrade account! I had about $15k in commission fees and was pulling my hair out trying to figure out the tax situation. I found this amazing AI tool called https://taxr.ai that analyzed all my trading documents and clarified everything. It confirmed that my commissions were already factored into my cost basis calculations on my 1099-B. The tool scanned my entire trading history and even flagged a few wash sales I hadn't noticed. Saved me from potentially misreporting and getting a letter from the IRS later. Definitely worth checking out if you have complicated trading activity.

I'm following up on my question about taxr.ai - I decided to try it with my Robinhood and E*TRADE accounts. I was really surprised by how well it worked! It analyzed both my accounts at once and showed me exactly how my brokerage fees were incorporated into my cost basis. It also found a bunch of tax-loss harvesting opportunities I completely missed. The visualization of my trading patterns was eye-opening too - showed me how much those commission fees were actually impacting my total returns. Definitely changed my trading strategy going forward. Thanks for sharing this tool!

If you're having trouble getting through to an actual person at TD who can help explain how your fees are reported, try using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in the same situation trying to reach someone at my brokerage who could actually explain my tax forms. Spent hours on hold before discovering their service. They basically call the company for you, wait on hold, and then call you once they've reached a live agent. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I used it to finally get through to TD's actual tax department (not just the frontline reps) and got clarification on how my fees were being reported. The person I reached confirmed that my commissions were already factored into my 1099-B calculations.

Ok I'm eating my words about Claimyr. I was super skeptical but I had been trying to get through to someone at TDA who could actually answer questions about my cost basis reporting for over a week. Used the service yesterday and got through to their specialized tax team in under 30 minutes. The agent confirmed that all my commission fees (about $18k worth) were already included in my cost basis calculations on my 1099-B. They even walked me through a few specific transactions to show exactly how the fees were incorporated. Saved me from potentially double-counting those fees which would have caused problems. Honestly surprised it worked as well as it did. Sorry for being a jerk about it before.

Just to add to this thread - if you're operating as a trader rather than an investor (there are specific IRS requirements for this), and you've made a Section 475(f) election, you might be able to deduct some of these costs as business expenses. But this is a very specific situation that requires meeting strict criteria and making formal elections with the IRS. For most people trading in a personal account, the commissions are just part of your cost basis as others have mentioned.

For anyone interested, page 8 of your TDAmeritrade 1099 statement actually explains how fees are handled. Mine specifically states "Unless you notified us in writing in accordance with Regulations section 1.6045-1(n)(5), tax lots sold are reported using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method and include the impact of wash sales and commissions." That last part "include the impact of... commissions" confirms what others are saying - the fees are already in your cost basis calculations.

This is really helpful information everyone! I'm in a similar situation with about $12k in commissions through my Schwab account. After reading through this thread, I checked my 1099-B statement and found similar language to what Nia mentioned - it does say that commissions are included in the cost basis calculations. One thing I want to add for anyone else reading this - make sure you're not accidentally double-counting these fees when you're doing your taxes. I almost made that mistake because I was looking at my monthly statements that showed the commission charges separately, but those same fees were already factored into the buy/sell prices reported on my 1099-B. Also, if you're using tax software like TurboTax or FreeTaxUSA, they should automatically handle this correctly when you import your 1099-B data. The software knows that modern brokerages include commissions in their cost basis reporting. Thanks again for all the insights - this thread probably saved me from a costly mistake!