Professional investor/trader status

I would say if it just happened once, this might not be anything.

But try not to do this often because if you do trading like behaviour then you are making yourself prone to scrutiny and eventually trader like taxes.

We’re still waiting for any forum member to be classified as pro, you need way more than doing this regularly :slight_smile:

(you’d need to do very frequent trading, and generate positive return consistently, since obviously they don’t want you to be able to deduct losses)

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Two situations that are most likely to have you reclassified as a pro investor:

  • You consistently earn a substantial portion of your income through capital gains.
  • You invest other people’s money.

If you only invest your own money, and your capital gains do not make up a significant part of your income, then the risk is very low.

First thing to ask yourself is if you are a professional investor i.e. is that your job and how you earn your living? if not then 99%+ will not be a professional investor.

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Hi, as a result from another question I posted, I was wondering if this rule “You hold your assets for over six months” can be ignored if the stock is sold for less than what I have paid. For example I bought Nio and don’t longer believe in it. I’m holding it since some months, but less than 6 months. Can this trade me anyway classify as a professionell trader?

It’s probably not a yes/no question and I would need to ask the tax department, but I thought I give it a try and it maybe is interesting for others as well. Thanks

No.

It has been discussed before in this forum. If you search for “professional trader” you’ll find a lot of information.

It seems to take a lot to be classified as a “professional trader”. I’ve never heard of it happening to anyone.

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Thanks and sorry if this has been already asked. I searched and found topics, but nothing that answers if selling with non profit would count towards that rule. I will search again, sorry.

From what I understand from reading the other posts it typically takes a lot more than just fulfilling one criteria of the list to be classified as a professional trader.

See for instance here: https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/professional-trader-status-court-cases/7863 and https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/does-margin-interest-rate-trading-switch-you-to-professional-trader/2600

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Thanks Sandro

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Especially if you have losses, you’re guaranteed to be classified as non-pro :smiley:

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There are actually quite a few court cases where people have lost money day trading options. They sued to be classified as professional traders so they could deduct their losses. But the courts say that the activity was not aimed at making profits, as the losses show. Therefore, it cannot be considered a professional activity. :laughing:

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That’s what I hope :joy: and actually I am.

Well it would be good for you to be classified pro, you’d deduct the losses from income (that’s why they won’t do it).

As far as I know that can’t be reverted. My losses are not high enough and the profits would be taxed. I think this only makes sense if you loose much more than your profit.

Piggy-backing here: Would you know if I run a risk by “rearranging” my porfolio - i.e., selling VWRL which I have been holding (and incrasing) since 2021 and buying FWRA (Acc, lower TER, but higher spread) instead?

What about liquidating the whole or part of stock/ETF portfolio and re-buying (same or different stocks/ETFs) with another bank (i.e., bank change, avoidance of transfer costs)?

No

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No risk. (Do you know anyone who would just rebalance and call themself a professional trader? :smiley: )

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the question is what is the advantage of moving from VWRL to FWRA ?
If it is TER then it is not the only thing that matters. Best to check the Tracking difference versus their indexes.

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Thanks! I agree, TER is not everything. I like the fact that it is accumlating: no quarterly payouts and currency conversions (fees), automatic re-investment of dividends. FWRA is still young, VWRL’s parameters solid (tracking difference!). But yeah, maybe not rush things and see how tracking difference and spread develop for FWRA.

The fear of being deemed a professional trader being voiced on this forum is inversely correlated to your actual chances and risk of the tax office doing it.

I can’t really remember someone asking “But what about it if I sell x and purchase y, wouldn’t I violate rule z and become a professional trader blablabla” and me ever having to (silently) agree or wonder: “Yeah, that sounds dangerous. I wouldn’t be surprised if he/she is.”

There’ve two or three occasions though that went like “How should I declare my ten dozens of IBKR transactions and the futures or options I’ve bought or sold to the tax office - oh, and what about that margin interest, before I forget? Thank’s for any help, I’m not a professional or anything.”

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