For years, traders have been able to summarize their trades on Schedule D. This has been a huge help to active traders who make thousands of trades per year.

However, the IRS recently updated Schedule D instructions for the 2005 tax year, requiring that all trades (both purchases and sales) be listed on Schedule D-1 (an attachment to Schedule D) in a line-by-line format.

However, after complaints from the public, the IRS has decided to allow taxpayers to use IRS-compliant attachments in lieu of Schedule D-1.

Nonetheless, the IRS states it no longer accepts the previous practice of summarizing trades on Schedule D saying, details available on request. It should be noted, however, the IRS never technically allowed this type of summary reporting for securities in the first place.

What will happen if you can't or don't want to comply in this manner?