w-2 box 14

[billy]

My wife has about RSU $1,080 and SSAR $2,935 reported on her w-2 box 14. So box 14 items won't affect taxable income? And both are already included in box 1? also, the amount's in box 14 is more than what is reported on her 1099-B $3,665 and 1099-DIV $16. Do I still add her 1099-B and 1099-DIV for broker transactions?

[MDM]

Usually a W-2 is issued by one's employer, while forms 1099-B and 1099-DIV are issued by one's broker (who is not the same as one's employer).

Is your situation different from the usual?

[SeattleCPA]

The general challenge of tech company employees who receive equity-connected compensation is they need to make sure the transactions are reported correctly on Schedule D.

The brokerage firm (Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, etc.) may show someone sold stock for $10,000 and apparently made $9,000 of profit... but that $9,000 has already been included in the person's W-2 and thus taxed... Therefore the employee needs to adjust the basis on the Schedule D.

A general observation from a CPA in an area where there's a lot of this accounting going on: Big experienced companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook do an excellent job making sure that the W-2 and 1099-B info syncs.

Often others don't. And this clarification: These "others" can include large public companies with lots of employees.

[MDM]

The brokerage firm (Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, etc.) may show someone sold stock for $10,000 and apparently made $9,000 of profit... but that $9,000 has already been included in the person's W-2 and thus taxed... Therefore the employee needs to adjust the basis on the Schedule D.

+1

Indeed, Your 1099-B form for an ESPP sale will probably be wrong.

[billy]

MDM, everything is normal, I just didn't pay that close of attention until now, looks like I have been messing up my taxes for a while now. Thanks for that link, I'm going to read it and try to understand this whole thing as my head is spinning a bit.

SeattleCPA, what you said sounds spot on, she works for Genentech, I use H&R Block online tax software, I need to lean how to reconcile and adjust the tax basis.

Somewhat amusingly, I found this post https://www.atxcommunity.com/topic/20565-genentech-stock-options/ where a tax preparer was asking other tax preparers how to do a clients taxes who worked for Genentech with the same issue.

[billy]

I leaned by calling the broker that the 1099-B shows non covered security, don't have to show short or long term capital gains. I only need to report the ones that say "sell" that were untaxed, and the rest were already reported on the W-2. Any fees can be deducted from the sales proceeds.

So I don't have to worry about cost basis or capital gains right?