In the past, the brokerage houses were not providing the basis information for the stock transactions. In those days, the CPA's had to determine the stock basis for each transaction.

So, preparing a day trader's tax return was really a nightmare especially with 300 transactions or more! Today, TD Ameritrade and others actually provide you with a summary statement that reports total net short term gain or loss, and total net long term gain or loss. So, effectively in 2 lines we can report the entire capital gains/losses.

This is great for traders and CPA's as well. All the work is done for us come tax time.

Regarding option transactions, I think these have to be listed separately. No need to contact Td Ameritrade or others as it is difficult to determine what your gain or loss was on these! You are required to determine these and report to your CPA.

__________________
Ask TaxGuru
Please refer to the legal disclaimer.