How to enter multi-account wash sales in TurboTax (step by step)

Short answer: TurboTax will not detect wash sales across accounts for you. It faithfully imports each 1099-B, and brokers must report only same-account washes; they may report more, but none can see your accounts at other brokers (why). If a loss at broker A was washed by a re-buy at broker B or in an IRA and your 1099-B doesn't show it, you add the adjustment: code "W" in Form 8949 column (f), the disallowed amount in column (g), per the IRS Form 8949 instructions. Here's where it goes.

Step 0 — Find the violations (the hard part)

You need every account's trades in one ledger to know the disallowed amounts. Our free checker does this in your browser: drop CSVs from Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, IBKR, E*TRADE, and it lists each cross-account violation with the sale, the replacement, and the exact disallowed dollars — plus a year-end summary you can work from.

Step 1 — Import your 1099-Bs normally

Let TurboTax import every broker's 1099-B as usual. Then compare the wash sales your brokers already reported in box 1g with the all-accounts figures from Step 0. Box 1g is what that broker reported, and it can be higher or lower than the correct amount across all your accounts. Where they agree, leave it. Where they don't, the Form 8949 instructions (code W) say to enter the correct amount in column (g); if the correct amount is lower than box 1g, attach a statement explaining the difference.

Step 2 — Open the affected sale and add the adjustment

1. In the investment income section, find the SALE that produced the disallowed loss (at the broker where you sold).
2. Edit that sale and look for where your software lets you enter more detail from the 1099-B or adjust the sale. The wording and menus differ between versions.
3. Enter the disallowed amount as a wash sale loss disallowed adjustment (the box 1g field). On Form 8949 that should show as code W in column (f) with the amount in column (g), which shrinks the loss on that row by the disallowed amount; check the form view to confirm.
4. Repeat for each affected sale. Violations do not map one-to-one onto sale rows: several matches can belong to one sale. For example, a $500 disallowed amount from a purchase at one broker and a $250 one from a purchase at another, both washing the same sale, make one $750 amount on that sale's row. Our checker shows each match as its own card; enter the sale's total once, not each match separately.

Menus shift between TurboTax versions; the constant is the destination — Form 8949 code W / column (g). Verify on the actual form before filing (Forms view in desktop; the PDF preview online).

Step 3 — Carry the basis adjustment forward (don't lose your loss!)

A disallowed loss is usually deferred, not destroyed: it adds to the cost basis of the replacement shares (mechanics). When you later sell those replacement shares, their broker-reported basis will be too LOW if that broker didn't report the wash, so you'd overpay. Adjust that future sale's basis upward — code B in column (f) is the usual route — and keep your records. Exception: replacements inside your own IRA give you nothing to carry forward; the loss is permanently gone, and no basis entry ever recovers it.

A worked example

You sold 100 NVDA at Schwab on Dec 10 for a $2,000 loss; you bought 100 NVDA at Robinhood on Dec 20. Schwab's 1099-B shows a clean $2,000 loss (Schwab can't see your Robinhood account). In TurboTax: edit the Schwab sale → enter $2,000 as wash sale loss disallowed → Form 8949 shows code W in column (f) and 2,000 (a positive number) in column (g); the row's gain or loss becomes $0. Your Robinhood lot's true basis is now purchase price + $2,000 — record it for the year you sell.

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