Weekly Strategy PERFORMANCE

E*Trade Advisor Services recently announced that it has entered into a formal agreement to be acquired by Axos Financial Inc., an industry leader in digital banking. The process is still in the early stages, but E*Trade Advisor Services has compiled an FAQ, available here, to help answer questions. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please contact our Client Services team at 800-347-3539, extension 1.

We have been experiencing longer-than-usual processing times at our custodian firms. Many of the custodians have indicated processing times of 7–10 days. Delays at the custodian are outside of our control. We appreciate your patience when processing new account paperwork and transfer requests.

February 1, 2021, marked 40 years since the founding of Flexible Plan Investments (FPI).

The success and growth of the firm can be attributed to all of you, our valued clients and financial advisers, along with our dedicated staff.

As a special “thank you,” we’re inviting you to join us in celebrating our 40 years of innovation by helping us give back. Visit our anniversary page to nominate a charity and pledge a donation. We’ll match donations to all qualifying charities submitted (with a maximum match of $1,000 total to each organization). We’re more than halfway to our goal of $40,000 in matched funds. 

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year has been extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021. For more information, see the IRS news release here.

Tax day is right around the corner! Don’t wait until the last minute to establish your new IRA or rollover accounts. New IRA paperwork needs to be received by our office and in good order by May 10 to ensure processing by May 17.

Tax data will be available for import into both Turbo Tax and H&R Block tax programs. Clients must create a Liberty login and password before using the import process.

First, select “E*Trade Advisor Services” from the list of financial institutions. Then authenticate your identity using your Liberty login and password. Online assistance is available through the Help Center services of both Turbo Tax and H&R Block. Note: This import process is not available on the free version of Turbo Tax.

Each year we get questions from reps and tax preparers about how to handle transaction data for taxable accounts. While Flexible Plan does not provide tax advice, the following procedural information may be useful.

To avoid having to enter each buy/sell transaction, you can use one of the following methods:

• E*Trade Advisor Services integrates with Turbo Tax and H&R Block’s tax software, allowing you to download the data directly into the software program. E*Trade Advisor Services also provides the 1099-B tax data in CSV/spreadsheet format, which can be used with other software programs.
• Totals can be entered on Schedule D, and a hard copy of the 1099-B data can be submitted separately from the electronically filed return. Totals entered using this method could be labeled “Per schedule submitted with Form 8453.” You would then submit an IRS Form 8453 with the 1099-B tax data to the following address:

Internal Revenue Service

Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254

Receipt and Control Branch

Austin, TX 73344-0254

Wash sales: Interest in the subject of wash sales and active management always spikes during tax season. Information about wash sales, their effects, and how to avoid them at Flexible Plan can be found here.

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