A 1256 Contract, as defined in section 1256 of the U.S.

Internal Revenue Code The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), formally the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, is the domestic portion of federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 ...

, is any regulated

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

foreign currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

contracts, non-

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

options (broad-based stock index options (including cash-settled ones), debt options, commodity futures options, and currency options), dealer equity options, and any dealer security futures contracts. For U.S. Federal income tax purposes,

mark-to-market accounting Mark-to-market (MTM or M2M) or fair value accounting is accounting for the "fair value" of an asset or liability based on the current market price, or the price for similar assets and liabilities, or based on another objectively assessed "fair" ...

is used for each 1256 contract as of the end of each tax year, and such contracts are treated as sold for its fair market value on the last business day of such taxable year (i.e., as "closed"). The

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

(IRS) is not clear on whether

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SPY Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

options should be treated as section 1256 contracts. On one hand, these are seen as equity options, not within the definition of a 1256 Contract, but others consider them as non-equity option and meeting the definition of a "broad-based" index option. Instead, the IRS grants penalty relief if a broker determines in good faith that an index is, or is not, a narrow-based index, following published guidelines.

Tax advantages

Any gain or loss from a 1256 Contract is treated for tax purposes as 40% short-term gain and 60% long-term gain, regardless of holding period. Because most

s are held for less than the 12-month minimum holding period for long-term capital gains tax rates; the gain from any non-1256 contract will typically be taxed at the higher short-term rate. Thus the 1256 Contract designation enhances the marketability based on the after-tax attractiveness of these products. The reason for the implementation of section 1256 was the fact that traders were hedging their short term futures contracts (going long and short at the same time) to transition to the next tax year without paying the short-term capital gains tax on these positions, and were effectively making these positions qualify for long-term tax treatment. Individuals with a net Section 1256 contract loss can elect to carry it back three years (instead of being carried forward to the following year), starting with the earliest year, but only to a year in which there is a net Section 1256 contracts gain, and only up to the extent of such gain (the carrying back cannot produce a net operating loss for the year). To carry your loss back, file Form 1045, Application for Tentative Refund, or an amended return. Attach an amended Form 6781 and an amended Schedule D (Form 1040) for the applicable years.

References

{{Reflist Derivatives (finance) United States federal income tax

Tax advantages

See also

References