Do I still need to mail Form 8453 for stock sales to IRS if my trading volume is under $10,000,000? TurboTax is confusing me

Thank you! So just to make absolutely sure I understand - even though TurboTax is prompting me to mail Form 8453 with my statements, I can safely ignore that prompt and just complete my e-filing without mailing anything to the IRS? I don't want to mess this up and have the IRS coming after me later for missing documentation.

Yes, you can safely ignore that prompt and complete your e-filing without mailing anything. TurboTax is displaying a standard prompt that doesn't account for your specific situation being under the $10,000,000 threshold. The IRS won't come after you for missing documentation in this case because no additional documentation is required. The information from your 1099-B is already being reported to the IRS electronically by your broker, and you're including the summary information in your return through Schedule D. That's all that's needed when you're under that volume threshold.

How exactly does taxr.ai work? I'm dealing with a similar stock transaction reporting issue but mine involves foreign stocks. Would it help with that too? I'm wondering if it's worth trying before I pay my accountant another $200 to figure this out.

I'm skeptical about these AI tax tools. How do you know it's giving accurate information and not just making things up? Tax laws are super complicated and change every year. Does taxr.ai actually have qualified tax professionals reviewing the AI responses?

The way taxr.ai works is you upload tax documents like 1099s or W-2s, and their AI analyzes them and can answer specific questions about your situation. For foreign stocks, it would absolutely help since international investments have special reporting requirements that most software doesn't explain well. Regarding accuracy, I was skeptical too initially. Their AI uses current tax code and IRS publications as its knowledge base, so it's not just making things up. They have tax professionals who design and verify the system. I've cross-checked answers with my previous accountant's advice and found it to be accurate. The nice thing is you can ask follow-up questions if something seems off.

How does Claimyr actually work? It sounds sketchy tbh. Does it just spam call the IRS for you or something? I've been trying to reach someone about my missing refund for weeks.

I don't believe this works. The IRS phone system is deliberately designed to keep most people on hold. There's no way around it unless you're using some kind of insider connection or paying for priority, which would be unfair to everyone else waiting. Sounds like a scam to me.

Claimyr uses a completely legitimate technology that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When they reach a live agent, you get a call back to connect with that agent. It's not spamming calls or using any exploits - they're essentially just waiting in line for you. Regarding skepticism, I totally understand the concern. I was hesitant too, which is why I watched their demo video first. They don't have "insider connections" - they're just solving the problem of wasted time on hold. The IRS actually encourages third-party solutions that reduce call congestion. It's worth trying if you've been unable to get through normally.

That's a good point about matching the 1099-B exactly. I did make sure all my summary numbers match the totals on my 1099-B statements exactly, down to the penny. I triple-checked the proceeds, cost basis, and gain/loss amounts before submitting. Does TurboTax usually handle the summary entry correctly? I noticed they have separate fields for covered and non-covered securities, short-term and long-term transactions, etc. I just want to make sure I filled everything out properly.

TurboTax does handle the summary entry correctly as long as you put the right numbers in the right fields. The separation of covered/non-covered securities and short/long-term transactions is exactly what the IRS wants to see. Just make sure you're using the actual totals from the 1099-B summary page rather than adding up all the individual transactions yourself, as sometimes the broker's calculation methods might differ slightly from manual addition. Also double-check that you've properly categorized everything as short-term vs long-term based on holding period. If everything matches your 1099-B summary page, you should be good to go with no need to mail anything in.

Crypto has slightly different rules than traditional securities. While the $10M threshold for mailing statements is technically the same, crypto reporting is more complex because many exchanges don't provide complete basis information to the IRS. If your crypto exchange provided a complete 1099-B with basis information reported to the IRS, then you can follow the same rules as stocks. However, if you received a 1099-K or no form at all, you should keep detailed records of all transactions since the burden of proof for basis is on you. You still don't need to mail anything if under $10M in volume, but be prepared to substantiate your basis calculations if asked.

Thanks for the info! My exchange (Coinbase) sent me a 1099-B this year with basis information included for most transactions. Sounds like I don't need to mail anything in after all. One more question though - for the few transactions where basis wasn't reported to the IRS (it says "basis not reported to IRS" on the form), should I be doing anything different with those?

For transactions where basis wasn't reported to the IRS, you'll need to report those on Form 8949 instead of using the summary method on Schedule D. Even though you don't need to mail anything in, you should keep detailed records of your purchase dates, amounts, and basis calculations for those specific transactions. The IRS requires more detailed reporting when basis isn't provided to them by the exchange. You can still e-file everything - just make sure those non-basis-reported transactions are properly documented on Form 8949 with the appropriate code in column (f) indicating that basis was not reported to the IRS. This is pretty common with crypto since exchanges only started providing comprehensive 1099-B forms recently. As long as your total volume is under $10M, no mailing is required, but having good records is crucial for the non-basis-reported transactions.