The free wash-sale spreadsheet template (and when to stop using it)
By Wash-Sale Guardian (who's behind it) · Published 2026-07-17 · Last updated 2026-10-02 · How the checker works
Here's a free Excel template that does the wash-sale bookkeeping correctly: log trades from every account, enter each loss sale once, and it computes the 61-day window, the first clean re-buy date, and flags WINDOW OPEN until the coast is clear — in any of your accounts, which is the part people forget.
⬇ Download the template (.xlsx, free)
Works in Excel, Google Sheets (File → Import), LibreOffice. No signup. Three sheets: instructions, a trade log, and the windows tracker with formulas prewired for 59 loss sales.
How to use it (3 steps)
- Log trades from EVERY account — yours, your spouse's, and your IRAs — in the Trades sheet. The wash-sale rule spans all of them (why).
- Enter each loss sale in the Windows sheet: ticker, date, quantity, loss. The window dates and first clean re-buy date compute instantly.
- Before ANY account buys a ticker, check its status. "WINDOW OPEN" means a re-buy washes the loss — and if that re-buy happens in an IRA, the loss is destroyed permanently.
The honest limits of the spreadsheet approach
This template is genuinely fine for a handful of harvest sales a year. It breaks down exactly where hand bookkeeping always breaks: it only knows the trades you remember to log, it can't split partial-quantity replacements share-for-share, it doesn't understand options symbology or substantially-identical gray zones, and it can't reconcile against box 1g in February. One forgotten DRIP fill in an IRA and the spreadsheet cheerfully reports "closed" on a loss that's already gone.
When you hit that wall: the free checker reads your brokers' own CSV exports (walkthroughs: Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, IBKR, E*TRADE) and computes violations, open windows, and a CPA-ready year-end summary — in your browser, nothing uploaded, no signup. Same price as the spreadsheet: free.
Frequently asked questions
Can Excel track wash sales?
Yes, for simple cases: log every trade from every account, and for each loss sale compute the 61-day window (sale date −30 to +30) and the first clean re-buy date (sale date +31). Our free template does exactly that with prebuilt formulas and an open-window alert.
What is the formula for the wash sale window in a spreadsheet?
With the loss-sale date in B2: window start =B2-30, window end =B2+30, first safe re-buy =B2+31, and a status flag =IF(TODAY()<=B2+30,"WINDOW OPEN","closed"). The template ships these prewired for 59 rows with conditional highlighting.
When does a spreadsheet stop being enough?
When trade count grows, fills go partial, options enter the picture, or you have multiple accounts to cross-check — a missed manual entry silently produces a wrong answer. That is the point of a CSV-reading checker: it works from the broker’s own records instead of your memory.
Get the year-end wash-sale reminders
Short emails at the moments that matter: before Nov 30 (the last day to sell at a loss and still re-buy within 2026); before Dec 31; when 1099-Bs arrive in February; and the day Guardian Pro goes on sale. The one-page year-end checklist PDF comes with it.
Sign up and a link to the PDF appears right here. Confirm the email we send and you're on the list: about four to six emails a year, and you can unsubscribe in one click from any of them. Your trades stay in your browser. The form sends Kit only your email address and the page you signed up from — nothing else (see Privacy).