You had an E*TRADE account for years. Every tax season you'd open TurboTax, click Import from Broker, type "E*TRADE", enter your login, and your 1099-B would flow in clean in about 30 seconds. Then Morgan Stanley finished integrating E*TRADE, and this year the import breaks.
You might be seeing one of these: a "we couldn't connect to your broker" error, an import that looks successful but returns zero transactions, a worksheet full of "code N" adjustment errors that TurboTax refuses to accept, or three different Morgan Stanley options in the broker dropdown and no idea which one is yours.
You're not missing anything. The acquisition created a real mess in TurboTax's broker integrations, and the Intuit community forum has multi-page threads going back to early 2024 from people hitting exactly this wall. Here are the actual fixes.
Why E*TRADE Imports Broke After the Acquisition
Morgan Stanley completed its acquisition of E*TRADE in late 2020 and began consolidating legal entities and systems over the next several years. By 2023-2024, the account migration had reached a point where:
- E*TRADE's direct TurboTax integration was routed through Morgan Stanley's aggregator instead of E*TRADE's
- Stock plan accounts (RSU/ESPP) were moved under Morgan Stanley at Work branding
- Tax document generation moved to Morgan Stanley's systems
- The 1099-B format changed slightly — new worksheet layout, different adjustment code handling
TurboTax's broker connector list updated to include several Morgan Stanley variations — "Morgan Stanley", "Morgan Stanley at Work", "E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley" — but the mapping between each variation and the actual underlying account source isn't always clear.
The result: users who used to import cleanly now hit errors, pick the wrong dropdown entry, or get imports that look successful but silently drop data.
The Dropdown Maze — Which Morgan Stanley to Pick
TurboTax's broker import dropdown now shows (as of tax year 2025):
- Morgan Stanley — the traditional Morgan Stanley Wealth Management accounts
- Morgan Stanley at Work — stock plan accounts (RSU, ESPP, employee stock options) historically on E*TRADE stock plan or Solium Shareworks
- E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley — the rebranded retail E*TRADE accounts (non-stock-plan)
- E*TRADE — sometimes still appears as a legacy option; usually broken now
The rule of thumb:
| If you log in at... | Pick... |
|---|---|
| us.etrade.com (retail account) | E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley |
| us.etrade.com (stock plan section) | Morgan Stanley at Work |
| ms.com / morganstanley.com | Morgan Stanley |
| shareworks.com | Morgan Stanley at Work |
If you have both a retail E*TRADE account AND a stock plan account, you need to import both separately, picking the right dropdown entry each time. TurboTax merges the 1099-B transactions into one Form 8949 after both imports complete.
The "Code N" Adjustment Error
The most common post-acquisition error: you successfully import the 1099-B, everything looks fine, you proceed to Federal Review, and TurboTax throws a validation error on every row:
"Adjustment code N is not a valid entry. Please remove or correct."
Morgan Stanley's 1099-B worksheet imports with code N in the adjustment column for normal asset sales. But TurboTax's validator only accepts codes C, M, T, or blank in that field. So every row fails validation.
The fix:
- Delete the imported 1099-B entirely (don't try to edit rows individually — you'd be fixing hundreds of errors manually)
- Go to the Morgan Stanley / E*TRADE section in TurboTax and remove the broker account link
- Clear your browser cookies — this matters, because TurboTax caches the old broken mapping
- Re-add the broker, choose the correct dropdown entry (usually E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley for retail), and re-import
- The re-import should return clean transactions with blank adjustment codes
If it still fails, the workaround is to import the 1099-B PDF through a converter and use CSV or TXF import instead.
Stock Plan Accounts Need Special Handling
If your RSU or ESPP transactions are in a Morgan Stanley at Work account, the import will likely come in with $0 cost basis on every stock plan sale. This is because the stock plan supplement (the document that shows your adjusted cost basis) isn't included in the 1099-B import — it's a separate PDF you have to apply manually.
Download the Stock Plan Transactions Supplement from E*TRADE → Tax Documents, then adjust each RSU or ESPP row in TurboTax using the numbers on that supplement. Our dedicated guides on RSU cost basis adjustments and ESPP cost basis fixes walk through the exact TurboTax steps.
PDF-to-TXF Fallback When the Import Keeps Failing
If you've tried the dropdown fix, the cookie clear, and the code N workaround, and the import still doesn't work, the reliable fallback is:
- Download your 1099-B as a PDF from E*TRADE / Morgan Stanley
- Upload to a PDF-to-TXF converter
- Download the TXF file
- In TurboTax Desktop, go to File → Import → From Accounting Software → TXF File
- Import
The TXF file bypasses the aggregator entirely and loads clean transactions directly into Form 8949. It's the same data you'd get from a working broker import, just delivered through a different channel. For the full TXF walkthrough, see our TurboTax TXF import guide.
FAQ
Can I pick "E*TRADE" (without the Morgan Stanley suffix) in the dropdown?
If you see it, yes, but it's usually the legacy entry that's been deprecated. Most users who pick that one now get an error or a blank import. Choose "E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley" if both appear.
My retail E*TRADE account and my employer RSU account have the same login — do I still need to import twice?
Yes. TurboTax treats them as separate brokers because they flow through different Morgan Stanley entities. Import retail first, then add a second broker connection and import the stock plan account.
The import says "success" but I don't see any transactions. What now?
This is usually the Morgan Stanley / E*TRADE cookie mapping issue. Clear cookies, log out of TurboTax, log back in, retry with "E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley" specifically.
Does this affect H&R Block and TaxAct too?
Partially. H&R Block has reported similar post-acquisition issues but with a different workaround set. TaxAct's direct broker import for E*TRADE works reasonably well but also requires selecting the right entity. The CSV/PDF fallback works identically across all three.
Should I report this to Intuit?
There's no real benefit — the Intuit community forum has been tracking this issue for multiple tax seasons and they're aware. The practical fix is the workaround above, not waiting for Intuit to patch it.
Bottom Line
Post-acquisition E*TRADE imports fail because of an integration mess that's been festering since 2023. Pick the right dropdown entry (usually "E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley"), clear your cookies, delete and re-import, and for stock plan accounts apply the supplement-based cost basis adjustment manually. If direct import keeps failing, the PDF-to-TXF fallback works regardless.
Stop troubleshooting the broker connection. Convert your E*TRADE / Morgan Stanley 1099-B free — upload the PDF, download TXF or CSV, and import into TurboTax Desktop without the aggregator. Handles the code N issue, stock plan supplement reconciliation, and the multi-entity mess. No credentials shared.