What Is IRS Form 8949?

When you sell stocks, bonds, real estate, or other capital assets, the details of each sale get reported on Form 8949. Think of it as the worksheet that feeds into Schedule D, which summarizes your overall capital gains and losses on your Form 1040.

What Goes on Form 8949

Each row on Form 8949 represents one sale. You enter the description of the asset, the date you acquired it, the date you sold it, the proceeds (what you received), the cost basis (what you paid), any adjustments, and the resulting gain or loss. You also check a box indicating whether the cost basis was reported to the IRS by your broker or not — this affects which part of the form you use.

Three Categories

Form 8949 has two pages and six checkboxes. You categorize transactions as either short-term (held one year or less) or long-term (held more than one year), and within each category, you note whether the basis was reported to the IRS. This distinction matters because the IRS checks its records against what your broker reported.

Cost Basis Adjustments

Sometimes the basis on your 1099-B isn't quite right. Common adjustments include wash sales (where a loss is disallowed), inherited assets (where the basis gets stepped up to the fair market value at death), or gifts (where the basis depends on whether you have a gain or loss). The adjustment column lets you correct the basis before the gain or loss carries to Schedule D.

Importing from Your Broker

If you had dozens or hundreds of transactions during the year, manually entering each one would be tedious. Most tax software can import your 1099-B data directly from major brokerages, automatically populating Form 8949 for you. Review the import carefully, especially for cost basis accuracy on older or inherited shares.

Netting on Schedule D

Once all your transactions are listed on Form 8949, the totals flow to Schedule D, where short-term and long-term gains and losses are netted against each other. The final net gain or loss then moves to your Form 1040.