How to Fill Out Form 8949: Columns, Codes, and Schedule D

Form 8949 is where you list each sale of a capital asset — stock, bond, fund share, crypto, real estate — one row per transaction, then carry the totals to Schedule D. To fill out Form 8949 correctly, you sort every sale by holding period and by how it was reported on a 1099, then complete the columns using figures from your 1099-B or 1099-DA, adding a code in column (f) whenever the reported numbers need to be corrected. The rest is arithmetic.¹

First, Check Whether You Even Need the Form

Some straightforward sales can skip Form 8949 entirely and go straight onto Schedule D line 1a (short-term) or 8a (long-term). The transaction qualifies only if all of these are true: you received a 1099-B or 1099-DA showing basis reported to the IRS, boxes 1f and 1g are empty (or 1h and 1i on a 1099-DA), the “Ordinary” box isn’t checked, the reported basis and gain type are correct, and no Qualified Opportunity Fund deferral applies.² One transaction that fails the test doesn’t disqualify the others; it just means that particular sale belongs on Form 8949.

Which Part and Which Box the Transaction Belongs In

Before you write anything in a row, you have to know which page of Form 8949 that row lives on. Two decisions.

Part I or Part II

Part I is short-term: you held the asset one year or less. Part II is long-term: you held it more than one year.³ Check your original trade confirmations if a sale falls near the one-year line, because tax rates on short-term and long-term gains differ substantially.

Box A, B, or C

At the top of each page you check one box, and every row on that page has to match it.

Box A: 1099-B or 1099-DA received, basis reported to the IRS. The usual box for recent stock and ETF sales.
Box B: 1099-B or 1099-DA received, basis not reported. Common with older securities and some digital assets.
Box C: no 1099 received at all. Personal-property sales, some private transactions, some real estate.

If you have transactions in more than one combination, use a separate page for each. A return with short-term Box A sales and long-term Box B sales needs at least two pages.¹

Filling In the Columns

Each row is one transaction. Work left to right.

Column (a): Description

A short but specific description of what you sold. “100 sh XYZ Corp” for stock. Include the maturity date for bonds and the strike and expiration for options. Space is limited, but the IRS should be able to match the row to the 1099-B line it came from.

Columns (b) and (c): Date Acquired and Date Sold

MM/DD/YYYY. Pull these from your trade confirmations or 1099-B rather than memory; trade date and settlement date can differ by a day or two, and near the one-year line that difference decides Part I versus Part II.

Column (d): Proceeds

What you received from the sale. For most stock trades this is Box 1d on the 1099-B. If the broker netted commissions out of the reported proceeds, use that net figure. If the broker reported gross proceeds without subtracting fees, you can either reduce column (d) yourself or leave it and use adjustment code E in column (f).⁴

Column (e): Cost or Other Basis

What you paid, including purchase commissions and transaction fees.⁵ For Box A rows this should match Box 1e on the 1099-B unless you know it’s wrong. For Box B and Box C rows you calculate basis yourself from your records.

A few things shift basis. Reinvested dividends raise it, because you already paid tax on those dividends when they were reinvested. Return-of-capital distributions lower it. If you bought the same stock at different prices over time, either specific identification or your broker’s default (usually first-in, first-out) determines which lot’s cost you use.

Columns (f) and (g): Adjustment Code and Amount

These exist to fix the gap between what the broker reported and what you actually owe tax on. If the 1099-B is right and no special rule applies, leave both blank. Otherwise, put a letter code in (f) and a dollar amount in (g). Positive amounts in (g) reduce the gain; negative amounts increase it. When two codes apply to the same sale, split it into two rows with the same proceeds and basis on each.

Column (h): Gain or Loss

Column (d) minus column (e), plus or minus column (g). Losses go in parentheses.¹

The Adjustment Codes You’ll Actually Use

Code W: Wash Sales

A wash sale happens when you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale.⁶ The loss is disallowed for the year, and the disallowed amount gets added to the basis of the replacement shares.

On Form 8949, put W in column (f) and the disallowed loss as a positive number in column (g). Say you sold 100 shares for $750 that cost you $1,000, then repurchased the stock within 30 days for $800. The $250 loss is disallowed. You’d enter $250 in column (g) to wipe out the loss on this row, and the new shares carry a basis of $1,050 ($800 plus the $250 disallowed loss).⁷ Brokers flag wash sales in Box 1g of the 1099-B.

Other Codes That Come Up

Code B: the basis on your 1099 is wrong for a reason other than a wash sale. Enter the correction in (g).
Code E: selling expenses or transaction costs that weren’t reflected on the 1099.
Code H: you sold your main home at a gain and are excluding part or all of it.
Code Q: qualified small business stock exclusion under section 1202.⁸
Code T: the short-term or long-term type shown on the 1099-B is wrong.
Code O: catch-all for anything that doesn’t fit another code.

The full list is in the Form 8949 instructions.⁴

Inherited and Gifted Assets

Sold something you inherited? Basis is generally the fair market value on the date the original owner died, not what they paid.⁹ Inherited assets are automatically long-term regardless of how long anyone held them. The executor or estate records should supply the date-of-death value.

Gifts are different. Your basis is generally the donor’s basis.¹⁰ If the donor’s basis was higher than the fair market value when the gift was made, your basis for calculating a loss is limited to that lower fair market value. If gift tax was paid, basis may be increased by a portion of it, up to fair market value.

Write “INHERITED” or “GIFTED” in column (a) alongside the description. If you don’t have an acquisition date for inherited property, put “INHERITED” in column (b) in place of a date.

Digital Assets in 2026

For sales after December 31, 2025, cryptocurrency exchanges and custodial brokers report digital asset transactions on the new Form 1099-DA.¹¹ Brokers must report gross proceeds on every digital asset sale in 2026, and cost basis for “covered securities” — digital assets acquired after 2025 in a custodial account with that same broker and held there until sale.¹²

Digital assets acquired before 2026, transferred in from an external wallet, or bought on a non-custodial platform are noncovered. The broker reports proceeds but not basis, and you’re on your own for the basis figure. Blockchain histories, exchange statements, and wallet records are what you rebuild it from.

Report digital asset sales the same way as stock sales: Box A if basis was reported on a 1099-DA, Box B if it wasn’t, Box C if no form was issued at all.

When There Are Hundreds of Transactions

Active traders don’t have to squeeze every trade onto the printed rows. The IRS accepts supplemental statements in the same columnar format, and brokerages and tax software generate them automatically.¹ When you attach one, fill out a summary Form 8949 page: check the appropriate box, write “See attached statement” in column (a), and enter aggregated totals in columns (d), (e), (g), and (h). A separate summary page is required for each box type.

Sending the Totals to Schedule D

Form 8949 itself doesn’t calculate tax. It hands totals to Schedule D:¹³

Short-term Box A totals to line 1b
Short-term Box B totals to line 2
Short-term Box C totals to line 3
Long-term Box A totals to line 8b
Long-term Box B totals to line 9
Long-term Box C totals to line 10

Transactions that qualified for the Form 8949 exception go directly to line 1a or 8a instead. Schedule D nets short-term against short-term and long-term against long-term, and the final result travels to line 7 of Form 1040.¹⁴

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 – Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1222 – Definitions
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1012 – Basis of Property – Cost
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1091 – Loss From Wash Sales of Stock or Securities
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Internal Revenue Service. Link and Learn Taxes – Case Study 1: Wash Sales
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1202 – Partial Exclusion for Gain From Certain Small Business Stock
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts and Transfers in Trust
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule D (Form 1040)
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses