Frequently Asked Questions
This section provides answers to questions frequently asked by those considering a TradeLog™ software purchase. Please note that product support questions are answered in the Support section of our web site.
Product Differences
What is the difference between TradeLog™ and TradeLog MTM™?
- TradeLog MTM™ was designed for traders who currently use or are planning to elect the Mark to Market tax accounting method. For more details, please see the Mark to Market accounting online tax topic.
- TradeLog MTM™ has all of the features of TradeLog™, plus additional tax features for the Mark to Market tax accounting method for traders of stocks and options.
If you have not elected Mark to Market and do not plan to in the near future, then TradeLog™ is the right choice for your trade accounting needs.
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What is the difference between TradeLog 200 / 600 / 1500 and TradeLog™?
TradeLog™ 200, 600 and 1500 have all of the same features as the full version of TradeLog™, with the exception that each data file is limited to a maximum of 200, 600 or 1500 total records. These limited versions are offered at a lower cost to allow semi-active traders to get a handle on their trading gains and losses just like the professionals.
Record levels:
Please note that one record equals one buy or sell transaction as reported on your online broker trade history report. Each partial fill is therefore counted as one record. So 100 round trip trades will count as 200 records or more.
You also need to include the number of open position transactions from the previous tax year as well as the number of trade transactions made in January of next tax year (required for proper wash sale calculations).
The total record limitation is per tax year, so with a TradeLog 200 subscription you can have 200 total trade records for 2005, 200 for 2006, 200 for 2007, and so on.
To upgrade from one version or record level to another please go to the
Purchase page and enter
your reg code. Your upgrade and/or renewal options will be displayed along
with the pricing.
PLEASE NOTE: Upgrades from one version or record level to another are priced at
the cost difference between the two versions. Upgrading from one version to another does NOT extend your one year subscription.
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Product Updates & Support
What is included in a TradeLog™ one-year subscription?
A one-year subscription to any TradeLog software product level entitles you
to exclusive use of all of the trade accounting and tax functions as described
on this web site for a period of one full year from the original date of
purchase.
You are not limited to any one tax year. You may use your TradeLog
software for any tax year that you can get data for and your record level is
for each year.
To extend your subscription for another year, you may purchase a one-year
subscription renewal at a 20% discount for a period up to one month after
your subscription expires, after which time you may purchase a subscription
renewal at full list price.
Unlimited Email and Phone Support
A TradeLog annual subscription also entitles you to unlimited email and
phone support. The recommended method of support is by email.
Supplying us with a complete description of the problem, what led up to it,
and any supporting data (trade history files, etc.) will greatly speed up
the issue resolution process. Most technical support issues are
resolved in a matter of days, provided we receive all necessary details from
the user.
No Charge for Updates
You are also entitled to download software updates from our web site at no
extra charge during the one-year subscription period. We strongly
recommend that users update their software regularly, as brokers often change
the formats of their online trade history reports (necessitating the release
of software updates) and as we are quite active in enhancing our software with
customer suggestions for new features, supported brokers, etc.
Please Note: We do not maintain an archive of set-up files
for older versions. Therefore, if your PC hard drive crashes you must
download the latest update from our web site. If your subscription has
expired then you will have to purchase a renewal subscription for another
year.
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Will my TradeLog™ software continue to operate after one year?
Only the viewing and reporting functions will continue to operate after
your annual subscription expires. After that you will no longer be able to
create new files, or add to or edit your current trade data files. One
month prior to the expiration of a user's annual subscription TradeLog will
begin to show how many days are left in the subscription in the status bar at
the bottom of the TradeLog window. You will also be notified via email at the
email address supplied at the original time of purchase that your subscription
is about to expire.
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How do I update my software?
Software updates are a simple process. Connect to the internet and, from
within your TradeLog™ application, click on the Help, Update main menu
item. Your web browser will run and direct you to the
Download latest update page on our web site. This page is for registered
users only.
Once at our Download latest update page, you must enter your name, email
address and registration code (with dashes) in the fields provided and click
the Download button. You will then be
directed to save the latest setup file to your computer. Once the download
has completed, simply run the new setup file to install the latest version, this will overwrite your previous version. Your data files will not be
affected. You will be prompted to enter your registration code to 'unlock' the update.
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Filing your Taxes
For Mark-to-Market questions, please see our
Mark to Market Tax Topic.
How can I e-file my taxes using TradeLog generated capital gains and losses?
We recommend TaxACT® software for best results in preparing and e-filing your tax return. From TradeLog you can export a CSV file specifically designed for easy importing into TaxACT® . We provide step-by-step instructions for importing into TaxACT® in the TradeLog User Guide.
Note: Only the TaxACT® Deluxe versions allow for importing this data. You cannot use the Free Online version for this purpose.
To learn more about TaxACT®, or to purchase, go to www.taxactonline.com
How do I get a Schedule D for filing with my tax return?
TradeLog™ produces an IRS ready Schedule D-1 "Continuation Sheet for
Schedule D" for both short-term as well as long-term capital gains.
View a sample TradeLog
Schedule D-1
The totals from this continuation sheet flow onto your schedule d.
Simply enter the totals from columns (d) and (f) to your Schedule D, Part I
for short-term and Part II for Long-Term. Put a note in column (a)
(Description of Property) as follows: "See detailed report attached".
The report should then be printed and attached to your
IRS Schedule D to file your taxes.
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How do I export my Gains and Losses to Tax software such as TurboTax™ and
Tax Cut™?
TradeLog™ offers a TXF Export report type from the Gains and Losses panel (ver 7 and up). This enables you to export your gains and losses in a TXF File format, complete with wash sale calculations, and then import the TXF File into any tax software that will import a TXF file format. Please see the TradeLog User Guide for more details.
- TXF File imports are NOT supported by the ONLINE versions of
most tax software programs. Please check with your tax software
provider to verify that your version of the tax software can import from a
TXF File.
- There is NO provision to import your trades into Form 4797 if you
have elected Mark to Market.
- TurboTax™ was never designed for active
traders as the following popup dialog message shows:
TradeLog™ software, on the other hand, was specifically designed for active traders who
execute thousands to tens of thousands of trades during the specific tax
year. Most popular tax preparation software packages have
been designed for the masses and therefore aren't meant to support a large
volume of trading data or handle particular IRS laws that are specific to
the active trader. As a result, limitations regarding the import of
TradeLog™ data into these programs arise.
For example, a number of users have reported that these programs "freeze"
during the import process from a TradeLog™ TXF file containing many
thousands of transactions, or that the tax software has reached some
limitation as to the total sales amounts.
Therefore, we make no guarantee that your particular TradeLog™ Gains &
Losses TXF File will import into either TurboTax™ or TaxCut™
or any other made for the masses tax software program.
However, all is not lost, because in such cases you can print the
TradeLog™ Schedule d-1 report, enter the totals from this report into your
tax software schedule d, print everything out, and then attach the
TradeLog d-1 report to your tax software schedule d, and file by mail.
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How does TradeLog™ and TradeLog MTM™ handle wash sales?
TradeLog™ features a simple procedure that automatically calculates wash
sales and wash sale deferrals to the next tax year, and closes your data file
for the current tax year. In order for TradeLog™ to properly calculate
wash sales, trades from January of the following tax year must be imported
into the data file prior to running the
"End Tax Year" procedure.
All wash sales generated throughout the tax year will be calculated and
added to your TradeLog™ data file. Any wash sales that need to be deferred
will be automatically moved to your next year data file, along with any open
positions and your January of next year trades. This next year data file will
be created automatically by the procedure.
Your current year data file is now ready to run the Gains and Losses report
to be filed with your tax return. You have the option to include or exclude
wash sales from the report. If you also want to exclude wash sale
deferrals from the TradeLog™ grid display or any reports you wish to run, you
can turn off the Options,
"Display Wash Sale Deferrals" function.
For more information regarding the IRS Wash Sale Rule, please see Tax Topic
on
Wash Sales.
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How do I adjust my Gains & Losses report (Schedule D) for wash sales?
When you run the Gains and Losses report in TradeLog™, you have the option
to include wash sales or exclude them. To include wash sales in
the report, be sure to select the Adjust for Wash Sales
checkbox prior to running the report.
If you want to exclude wash sale deferrals from the TradeLog™ grid display
or any reports you wish to run, you can turn off the Options,
"Display Wash Sale Deferrals" function.
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How do I reconcile with my brokerage 1099?
To ease the reconciliation of your TradeLog™ results with your broker provided Form
1099, simply run the TradeLog 1099 Reconciliation report from the Reports, Gains and Losses
menu for each brokerage account that you have.
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What is Mark-to-Market tax accounting?
Mark-to-market (MTM) accounting is the wise choice for the educated trader
in securities for the following major reasons:
- With MTM, trading "capital losses" are converted to "ordinary losses"
and they become exempt from the IRS wash sale rule.
- MTM traders can deduct their "ordinary" trading losses against all other
types of taxable income without limitation.
- If a MTM trader has negative taxable income (net operating losses), they
can carry them back two tax years to get immediate tax relief (hence the
term "tax loss insurance").
- MTM traders in securities are exempt from self-employment taxation and
they may "segregate" investment positions to still get long-term capital
gains rate benefits.
Please see our Trader Tax Topic:
Mark to Market accounting.
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How do I get a Form 4797 for filing my tax return?
TradeLog™ produces a Gains and Losses report with a similar format as the
IRS
Form 4797.
See TradeLog
Form 4797 Attachment report in *.PDF format.
MTM traders are required to price all open positions to year end market
prices, therefore all positions are held for one year or less and are
considered "short-term". Gains or losses from marking to market
securities and commodities held at the end of the tax year are considered
"ordinary", so these are reported on Part II
(Ordinary Gains or Losses) of the Form 4797.
Simply enter the Gains and Losses report totals to Part II, Line 10,
columns (d), (f) and (g) on the Form 4797. Put a note in column (a)
(Description of Property) as follows: "Trader - see attached".
The report should be printed and attached to the official IRS Form 4797 for
tax filing.
Please see
How to report gains & losses marked to market for more information.
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Supported Brokers
For more information on supported brokers, please see the Broker Support Matrix.
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Competition
How does TradeLog™ differ from the competition?
TradeLog™ was designed primarily for active traders. Active traders
typically generate large volumes of trade transactions and absolutely require
some sort of automated import capability.
TradeLog currently supports direct imports from
over 30 different online brokers, with new brokers being added on a
regular basis. There is NO limit on the number of records imported at
any one time except for the limited records versions. The savings in import
time alone can literally pay for the program many times over!
In addition, TradeLog MTM™ is the only software package on the market that
fully addresses the unique tax accounting needs of MTM traders.
Other tax accounting products on the market have been designed for the
masses and offer some capability to manage investments. Unfortunately,
they are only capable of handling a limited number of transactions and do not
match odd lots and short sales correctly for tax filing purposes.
Please take a few minutes to compare the
features
offered in TradeLog™ with those offered by other software packages you
have been considering. We are confident you will quickly realize that
there really isn't very much competition at all.
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System Requirements
Minimum Recommended Software:
- Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP (all
versions), Vista (all versions), and Windows 7 (all versions). Note: TradeLog may not function properly if Language and Regional settings are not set to English (United States).
Apple MacIntosh is not supported - However, we have been getting some
positive reports from users who use
VMWare Fusion
($79.00) to run Windows XP or Vista
($79.00 - $200.00) on their Mac and we are told that TradeLog runs flawlessly
under this environment.
Minimum Recommended Hardware:
- Intel Pentium 800 Mhz with 1 MB Ram
(Apple MacIntosh is not supported - see above)
- Large data files (over 10,000 records) will require more RAM memory - 2
MB or more is recommended.
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TradeLog Product Guarantee
Armen Computing Ltd. guarantees that TradeLog™ will do everything that is
advertised on this web site.
If after receiving assistance to resolve any operation or performance
issues within the first 30 days of purchase, these issues are not resolved to
your satisfaction, the complete purchase price will be promptly refunded. You
must, however, give us a reasonable chance to resolve these issues.
As online brokers change their report formats frequently, the need for
fixes and updates to our software is inevitable. Many problems are resolved in
just a matter of a few minutes, and our customers generally appreciate our
quick response.
Please note that this is an operation and performance guarantee, not a
30-day evaluation. If you need to evaluate TradeLog you may download our
trial version from our main web page.
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How do I get a refund?
Our refund policy is clearly outlined in our
Product
Guarantee above.
Please note that when TradeLog™ software is purchased, it does NOT entitle
a user to a 30-day trial of the software! In order to qualify for a
refund, a registered user must give us the opportunity to resolve any
technical support issues they might be experiencing. If these issues
cannot be resolved to your satisfaction within the first 30 days of purchase,
we will promptly refund the full purchase amount.
If you are contemplating a TradeLog™ purchase but are unsure of whether or
not it will meet your needs, please take the
Video Tour and download our
Trial Version from our main web page. Use the trial version to enter a few hundred trade
records, try a test import from your online broker and view the reporting and
portfolio management features in the software. These tools will help you
to make an informed decision to purchase TradeLog™.
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Support Limitations
Armen Computing Ltd. strives to provide the best software support.
While most TradeLog users are able to use the software with little or no support, we do occasionally have users that require more extensive support because of a complex situation, or lack of technical ability. We strive our best to give as much support as is reasonable. At times due to high volume, and the fact that our support is free, we may exercise the right to limit the length of extensive support calls. At the conclusion of the call users can continue working as instructed by the support agent and either email for additional questions, or call back later. Calls are handled in the order in which they are received. This allows all of our customers to receive the support they need in a more timely manner.
We provide Technical Support for TradeLog software, which requires that users have a basic understanding of computers and are able to follow the extensive tutorials and instructions we provide. We are eager to provide technical support in resolving problems using the software. However, for some users the support required extends beyond 'Technical Support' and becomes basic computer instruction or accounting services. In such cases we must refer the user to an accounting service that can use TradeLog for their needs, we do not provide accounting services. We reserve the right to refuse to provide support that exceeds our limitations, or that would enable any entity in illegal activity or tax reporting.
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Your Security
Armen Computing Ltd. Security
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Armen Computing Ltd's purchase page is secured by a RapidSSL
secure server certificate
(SSL certificate) .
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The SSL (secure sockets layer) protocol is the Web standard for encrypting communications between
users and SSL e-commerce sites. Data sent via an SSL
connection is protected by encryption, a mechanism that prevents eavesdropping
and tampering with any transmitted data.
SSL provides consumers with
the confidence that private data sent to this Web site, such as credit card numbers
and personal information, are kept confidential.
Customers know when they have an SSL session with a website when their browser displays the little gold padlock and
the address bar begins with a https rather than http.
Data files submitted to TradeLog Support via online or email submission are used for the purpose of technical analysis. Sensitive information
such as taxpayer identification numbers are stored only on the user's PC. Stored account login information is encrypted in TradeLog and can only be
accessed with permission from the end user.
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Your Privacy
Armen Computing Ltd. Privacy
At Armen Computing Ltd., we are committed to protecting your privacy. The
information you provide us is used to process orders and to provide a more
personalized shopping experience. Please read on for more details about our
privacy policy.
What information do we need to process an order and how do we use it?
When you order, we need to know your name, e-mail address, mailing address,
phone number, credit card number and expiration date. This allows us to
quickly process and fulfill your orders and to notify you of your order
status, as well as provide any necessary customer service.
Armen Computing Ltd. DOES NOT keep any records of your credit
card information.
Once an amount has been approved by your credit card company, the only
personal information that we keep on file is your name, e-mail address,
mailing address, and phone number.
How does Armen Computing Ltd. protect customer information?
When you place orders, we offer the use of a secure server. The secure
server software (SSL) encrypts all information you input before it is sent to
us, SSL is the most widely accepted form of encryption for online
transactions. Furthermore, all of the customer data we collect is protected
against unauthorized access.
Will Armen Computing Ltd. disclose the information it collects to outside
parties?
Armen Computing does not sell, trade or rent your personal information to
others. Armen Computing may provide these details when required to do so
by law enforcement agencies.
In Summary
We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information you
provide us to make buying/registering at Armen Computing Ltd. possible and to
enhance your overall shopping experience.
Your Consent
By using our website, you consent to the collection and use of this
information by Armen Computing Ltd. If our privacy policy changes we will post
those changes on this page to keep you informed on what information we
collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.
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