D-1
Cat. No. 24331I
1999
Instructions for
Schedule D,
Capital Gains
and Losses
Use Schedule D (Form 1040) to report:
The sale or exchange of a capital asset (defined on this page).
Gains from involuntary conversions (other than from casualty or theft) of capital assets
not held for business or profit.
Capital gain distributions not reported directly on Form 1040, line 13.
Nonbusiness bad debts.
Additional Information. See Pub. 544 and Pub. 550 for more details. For a comprehensive
filled-in example of Schedule D, see Pub. 550.
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless otherwise noted.
General Instructions
A Change To Note
If your only capital gains are capital gain
distributions from mutual funds (or other
regulated investment companies) or real
estate investment trusts, you may not need
to complete Schedule D. See the instructions
for Form 1040, line 13, on page 21 to find
out if you can report your capital gain dis-
tributions directly on Form 1040, line 13,
and use the new Capital Gain Tax Work-
sheet to figure your tax instead of filing
Schedule D.
Other Forms You May Have
To File
Use Form 4797 to report the following:
The sale or exchange of property used
in a trade or business; depreciable and amor-
tizable property; oil, gas, geothermal, or
other mineral property; and section 126
property.
The involuntary conversion (other than
from casualty or theft) of property used in
a trade or business and capital assets held
for business or profit.
The disposition of noncapital assets
other than inventory or property held pri-
marily for sale to customers in the ordinary
course of your trade or business.
Ordinary loss on the sale, exchange, or
worthlessness of small business investment
company (section 1242) stock.
Ordinary loss on the sale, exchange, or
worthlessness of small business (section
1244) stock.
Use Form 4684 to report involuntary con-
versions of property due to casualty or theft.
Use Form 6781 to report gains and losses
from section 1256 contracts and straddles.
Use Form 8824 if you made one or more
like-kind
exchanges.
A like-kind ex-
change occurs when you exchange business
or investment property for property of a like
kind. For exchanges of capital assets, in-
clude the gain or (loss) from Form 8824, if
any, on line 4 or line 11.
Capital Asset
Most property you own and use for personal
purposes, pleasure, or investment is a capital
asset. For example, your house, furniture,
car, stocks, and bonds are capital assets. A
capital asset is any property held by you
except the following:
1. Stock in trade or other property includ-
ed in inventory or held for sale to customers.
2. Accounts or notes receivable for serv-
ices performed in the ordinary course of
your trade or business or as an employee,
or from the sale of any property described
in 1.
3. Depreciable property used in your trade
or business even if it is fully depreciated.
4. Real estate used in your trade or busi-
ness.
5. Copyrights, literary, musical, or artistic
compositions, letters or memoranda, or sim-
ilar property: (a) created by your personal
efforts; (b) prepared or produced for you (in
the case of letters, memoranda, or similar
property); or (c) that you received from
someone who created them or for whom
they were created, as mentioned in (a) or
(b), in a way (such as by gift) that entitled
you to the basis of the previous owner.
6. U.S. Government publications, includ-
ing the Congressional Record, that you re-
ceived from the government, other than by
purchase at the normal sales price, or that
you got from someone who had received it
in a similar way, if your basis is determined
by reference to the previous owners basis.
Capital Assets Held for
Personal Use
Generally, gain from the sale or exchange
of a capital asset held for personal use is a
capital gain. Report it on Schedule D, Part
I or Part II. However, if you converted de-
preciable property to personal use, all or part
of the gain on the sale or exchange of that
property may have to be recaptured as or-
dinary income. Use Part III of Form 4797
to figure the amount of ordinary income
recapture. The recapture amount is included
on line 31 (and line 13) of Form 4797. Do
not enter any gain for this property on line
32 of Form 4797. If you are not completing
Part III for any other properties, enterN/A
on line 32. If the total gain is more than the
recapture amount, enter From Form 4797
in column (a) of line 1 or line 8 of Schedule
D, skip columns (b) through (e), and in
column (f), enter the excess of the total gain
over the recapture amount.
Loss from the sale or exchange of a cap-
ital asset held for personal use is not deduct-
ible. But if you had a loss from the sale or
exchange of real estate held for personal use
for which you received a Form 1099-S, you
must report the transaction on Schedule D
even though the loss is not deductible.
For example, you have a loss on the sale
of a vacation home that is not your main
home and received a Form 1099-S for the
transaction. Report the transaction on line 1
or 8, depending on how long you owned the
home. Complete columns (a) through (e).
Because the loss is not deductible, enter zero
in column (f).
Short Term or Long Term
Separate your capital gains and losses ac-
cording to how long you held or owned the
property. The holding period for short-term
capital gains and losses is 1 year or less. The
holding period for long-term capital gains
and losses is more than 1 year. To figure
the holding period, begin counting on the
day after you received the property and in-
clude the day you disposed of it.
If you disposed of property that you ac-
quired by inheritance, report the disposition
as a long-term gain or loss, regardless of
how long you held the property.
A nonbusiness bad debt must be treated
as a short-term capital loss. See Pub. 550
for what qualifies as a non-business bad debt
and how to enter it on Schedule D.
Capital Gain Distributions
Enter on line 13, column (f), the total capital
gain distributions paid to you during the
year, regardless of how long you held your
investment. This amount should be shown
in box 2a of Form 1099-DIV. Enter on line
13, column (g), the total of the amounts
reported to you as the 28% rate gain portion
of your total capital gain distributions. This