How Do You Enter Section 1256 Contracts in TurboTax, H&R Block and FreeTaxUSA?

Does Kalshi or Polymarket import into TurboTax? No, the figure is typed

No. None of the four vendors' help pages describes a Kalshi or Polymarket import. TurboTax's help for this screen is written for a broker's Form 1099-B, and as of October 2026 none of Kalshi, Polymarket US, Robinhood, Coinbase or Novig has published that it sends one for event contracts. TaxAct says even a futures 1099-B goes in by hand: "You cannot import this type of transaction into the TaxAct program; you need to manually enter it."

So you arrive with a figure, not a file. Here is where each vendor's help sends it, in alphabetical order:

The check date for each page is in the Sources list at the end.

What figure do you bring to the software? Form 6781 Part I, one row per account

You bring what Form 6781 Part I already holds. For each venue account, that is the losses and the gains on positions closed in the year, plus the December 31 value of positions still open. Our Form 6781 guide builds that line by line. This guide does not repeat it.

The worked year: a Kalshi account and a Polymarket US account

The figures are illustrative and come from the Form 6781 guide, so you can follow one set of numbers across both pages.

Two accounts means two entries in the software. Lines 2 to 9 are arithmetic the form does from them.

Where do you enter Section 1256 contracts in TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA and TaxAct?

Three of the four vendors publish a path to a Section 1256 screen in their income section. Below is what each vendor publishes, in alphabetical order. Where a vendor is silent, we say so rather than fill the gap from a forum.

FreeTaxUSA: Income, Uncommon Income, Contracts and Straddles

FreeTaxUSA's FAQ 4301 gives the menu path Income > Uncommon Income > Contracts and Straddles. It says to enter contracts "on the Section 1256 Contracts and Straddles screen." A Section 1256 contract from a Schedule K-1 goes in the partnership or S corporation section instead.

FreeTaxUSA does not publish the fields on that screen, or how to enter a figure with no 1099-B.

H&R Block: Form 6781 is supported, the screens are not published

H&R Block's supported-forms page lists "Form 6781: Section 1256 Contracts" for its online program. The page carries no date. Its Form 6781 article, dated June 14, 2017, explains the form but gives no steps in the software.

We found no H&R Block help page with the menu path or the fields. Search its help center from inside the program for "Section 1256" to find the screen.

TaxAct: Contracts & Straddles (Form 6781)

TaxAct's support article 1240 gives two paths:

• Online: Income > Explore More > Add beside Contracts & Straddles.
• Classic and Desktop: Federal > Investment Income > Gain or loss on the sale of investments > Futures or foreign currency contract reporting (Form 6781).

Both then say to "complete the rest of the interview process." The article does not list the fields.

TurboTax: Contracts and Straddles, under Investment Income

TurboTax's help article gives the Online path as the Contracts and Straddles screen under Income in the Federal section, then Yes. In Desktop it is Federal Taxes > Wages & Income > I'll choose what I work on > Investment Income > Contracts and Straddles.

Three screens follow. "Any Elections?" comes first. Then a Contracts and Straddles screen asks which items apply. Then you "enter your information as prompted from boxes 8 and 11 of your Form 1099-B." The article does not say how to enter a figure with no 1099-B, or which edition includes the screen.

Checking what the software produced: lines 7 to 9 and Schedule D

The form does the 40/60 split, not you. Line 8 is 40% of line 7 and goes to Schedule D line 4. Line 9 is 60% of line 7 and goes to Schedule D line 11. None of the four help pages describes that computation, so open the program's view of Form 6781 and check it.

For the worked year, line 3 should read 695, line 8 278 and line 9 417. Schedule D line 4 should include 278 and line 11 should include 417. If line 3 is off, an entry went in twice or with the wrong sign.

What goes in each field for an event-contract year?

The screens assume a broker and a 1099-B. An event-contract year differs in three places, and the form itself says what each one wants.

The broker name: the venue account

The venue account goes there, such as Kalshi or Polymarket US. Column (a) of line 1 is captioned Identification of account. The form asks for "Form 1099-B" and the broker's name only when a 1099-B exists, and here none does.

Gains and losses: apart where the screen allows

Form 6781 keeps losses in column (b) and gains in column (c) for each account. Kalshi in the worked year is (825) and 1,470, not a net 645. A screen with separate loss and gain fields can hold both. A screen that takes one total reaches the same line 3, but line 1 then shows a net.

Signs can differ too. A program may take a loss as a positive number in a loss field, or as a negative total. The vendors above do not publish which, so the form view is the check: losses in column (b), and 695 on line 3.

The year-end question: answered once

The December 31 value of open positions is already inside each account's figure. The form's line 1 covers contracts "open at the end of your tax year or closed out during the year." If a screen asks separately about contracts open at year end, or about unrealized gains, that value is not a second thing to add. Typing it again counts the mark twice. Part III of the form, unrecognized gains, is for positions that were not marked to market, which is a different list.

What about the trade-by-trade list Form 6781 asks for?

TurboTax's help asks for a broker's 1099-B figures, while the form asks for each transaction. The line 1 instruction says to "list separately each transaction for which you didn't receive a Form 1099-B." Event contracts have no 1099-B, so every position falls under it.

What a statement does, and what no vendor says

A transaction statement listing every position is how that list exists. The account totals on the screen then match the statement's subtotals. Some tax professionals put the positions on line 1 itself instead.

Whether each program lets that statement travel with an e-filed return is not stated:

That is an open question in the software, and this guide does not guess at it. Each vendor's support is where the answer would come from.

Where is the carryback election in the software?

It is box D on Form 6781, the net Section 1256 contracts loss election. In TurboTax the first screen after Contracts and Straddles is "Any Elections?", where the form's elections are chosen. The other three vendors do not publish where theirs sits.

Checking box D sends the amount carried back to line 6, entered as a positive number. Leaving it clear makes line 6 zero, and a net loss stays in this year and the carryover. It matters only in a losing year with Section 1256 gains in the three years before. How it works is in the carryback guide.

What does a CPA's software do with the same year?

The two professional programs below take a row per account or per transaction, each with its own description. So a full statement or CSV can go in as rows rather than one total.

One row per account or per transaction

• UltraTax CS (Thomson Reuters): a 6781 screen in the Income folder with a statement of Description, Loss/Gain Entire Yr and 1099-B Adjust. Its help says to "Identify other transactions separately." A field named Tot 1256 Carryback holds the box D amount.
• Lacerte (Intuit): Screen 17, Dispositions, has a Contracts and Straddles (6781) section with a gain or loss entry per contract.

These are what the programs take. Realize also offers a call with a CPA. Preparers can see what Realize hands over on the tax professionals page.

How Realize hands over the figures

Realize builds Form 6781 Part I with the transaction statement behind it, one row per account. Every file also ships with a transaction CSV with the same rows as the statement. Realize does not produce a TXF file or an import for any tax program, so the figures are typed in as above. The forms open in production for the 2026 filing season.

How the routes compare for the same year is in the Section 1256 60/40 guide and how to file Kalshi taxes. For the wider picture, start at the Prediction Market Tax Center.

Sources

• IRS, Form 6781 (2025), line 1, line 6, lines 8 and 9, and box D. Checked October 26, 2026.
• FreeTaxUSA, FAQ 4301 and FAQ 6106, no date shown. Checked October 26, 2026.
• H&R Block, supported forms (no date shown) and "Section 1256 Contracts Form 6781" (June 14, 2017). Checked October 26, 2026.
• TaxAct, support article 1240, updated October 14, 2026. Checked October 26, 2026.
• TurboTax, "How do I enter Form 1099-B, box 8 and 11 information into TurboTax?", updated January 21, 2026. Checked October 26, 2026.
• Thomson Reuters UltraTax CS and Intuit Lacerte help pages for Form 6781. Checked October 26, 2026.

Questions people ask

Is there a Kalshi integration for TurboTax?

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No. TurboTax publishes no Kalshi or Polymarket import. For people filing under Section 1256, the Form 6781 figure is typed on the Contracts and Straddles screen, one entry per venue account.

Do I enter each trade or one total in TurboTax?

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The consumer screens are built for a total per broker or account. The trades themselves sit on the transaction statement behind that total, which Form 6781 asks for when there is no Form 1099-B.

Is a Section 1256 loss entered as a negative number?

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It depends on the program, and the help pages for this entry do not say. Whatever the screen takes, the form view should show the loss in column (b) of line 1 and the right net on line 3.

Does tax software do the 60/40 split for me?

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Form 6781 does the split on lines 8 and 9, from line 7. None of the four help pages describes the computation, so open the form view and check that lines 8 and 9 add back to line 7.

What is the broker name when there is no 1099-B?

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The venue account, such as Kalshi or Polymarket US. Column (a) of Form 6781 line 1 is captioned Identification of account.