What is Form 8949?
Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets, lists each individual sale: description, date acquired, date sold, proceeds, cost basis, and any adjustment. Totals flow to Schedule D, which does the netting and tax math.
Transactions sort into six boxes — A through F — based on two questions: short-term or long-term, and did the broker report your cost basis to the IRS (covered) or not (noncovered)? Covered transactions with no adjustments can often skip 8949 entirely and go straight on Schedule D — but anything needing a correction (wash sales, inherited basis, crypto from self-custody wallets) gets its own 8949 line with an adjustment code.
Who files Form 8949?
- Stock and fund investors with sales reported on a 1099-B.
- Crypto traders — especially with self-custody wallets or exchanges that don't report basis.
- Anyone with basis adjustments — wash sales, inherited or gifted assets, employee stock (ESPP/RSU) basis corrections.
- Sellers of property — real estate, collectibles, and other capital assets without broker reporting.
Deadlines
Files with Schedule D and Form 1040 by the April deadline. Tip: brokers' consolidated 1099-Bs arrive mid-February and are frequently corrected in March — filing too early is how investors end up amending.
How to fill out Form 8949
Sort transactions into boxes
Box A/B/C for short-term (basis reported / not reported / no 1099-B), Box D/E/F for the long-term equivalents. One 8949 per box category.
Enter each transaction
Description (e.g., "100 sh XYZ"), acquired and sold dates, proceeds, and cost basis.
Apply adjustment codes where needed
Column (f) codes handle special cases: W for wash sales, B for basis corrections, H for the home-sale exclusion, and more.
Total each page
Proceeds, basis, adjustments, and gain/loss totals carry to the matching line of Schedule D.
Attach or summarize
Many covered, no-adjustment transactions can be reported as totals directly on Schedule D — check the current instructions for the exception rules.