You imported your 1099-B. Everything looked fine in the summary screen. Then you hit Federal Review, and TurboTax flags every single transaction with a yellow "Needs Review" banner. You click into the first one — looks normal. You click into the second — also looks normal. You have 612 transactions. You're not going to click through 612 rows.
The "Needs Review" flag is one of the most frustrating parts of TurboTax's 1099-B experience, because it doesn't always tell you why a row was flagged, and it often flags things that are genuinely fine. Here's what's actually happening, and how to clear the flags without manually touching every row.
Why TurboTax Flags Rows Without Telling You
"Needs Review" is a catch-all indicator that something about a row didn't match TurboTax's validation checks cleanly. The check runs automatically when you finish an import or finish a session, and it flags rows based on rules like:
- The broker didn't provide a date acquired, and TurboTax wants one
- The broker reported a cost basis of $0 (which is sometimes legit, sometimes an RSU)
- The holding period category doesn't match what TurboTax calculated from the dates
- An adjustment code that TurboTax can't automatically validate
- A transaction was imported with encoding that TurboTax suspects might be corrupted
The problem is that the banner just says "Needs Review" — it doesn't tell you which rule triggered. You click in, look at the data, see nothing wrong, and get stuck.
The Top 5 Root Causes
In rough order of frequency:
1. Missing "Date Acquired"
Brokers that bulk-import often leave Date Acquired blank or as "Various" for lots with multiple purchase dates. TurboTax accepts "Various" but sometimes flags it anyway. Fix: for lots with multiple dates, enter "Various" explicitly and uncheck any "incorrect" flags.
2. Zero cost basis (RSUs or noncovered)
If a broker reports cost basis as $0, TurboTax flags it for review because it's often wrong. For RSUs, this is expected and you need to apply the adjustment manually (see RSU cost basis wrong on 1099-B). For noncovered securities, you need to supply the basis yourself (see our noncovered securities guide).
3. Holding period mismatch
If the broker classified a transaction as short-term but the dates suggest it was held over a year (or vice versa), TurboTax flags it. Verify the dates and the broker's classification; if they conflict, trust the dates.
4. Adjustment code conflicts
Some imports come with adjustment codes TurboTax doesn't recognize — the infamous "code N" from E*TRADE / Morgan Stanley imports is the classic example. Every row with the bad code gets flagged. The fix is usually to delete the import and re-import via TXF or CSV. See our E*TRADE Morgan Stanley fix guide for the specific walkthrough.
5. Import encoding issues
Rare but real: when the broker connector sends data with non-UTF-8 encoding, TurboTax imports the rows but silently flags them because certain characters can't be validated. Symptom: the description column has garbled characters. Fix: delete the import and re-import, or use a CSV/TXF alternative.
Clearing Flags Individually (And Why It's Usually a Trap)
TurboTax's interface lets you click into each flagged row, review, and click "Done" to mark it reviewed. For 5-10 flagged rows, this is fine.
For hundreds of rows it's a nightmare, and there's a hidden gotcha: clicking "Done" without changing anything sometimes doesn't clear the flag because TurboTax considers the review incomplete if no field was edited. Users end up in a loop where they review, click done, move to the next, come back later, and the flag is still there.
The hack that sometimes works: edit one field (any field), change it back to the original value, then click done. This registers as a real edit and clears the flag. But doing this 612 times is still terrible.
The Nuclear Option: Delete and Re-Import via TXF or CSV
The fastest fix when half your transactions are flagged:
- Go to the 1099-B section in TurboTax
- Delete the entire imported broker — yes, all of it
- Download your 1099-B PDF from the broker
- Upload to a PDF-to-TXF converter or use CSV import
- Re-import the clean file
The clean file bypasses all the automatic-flag triggers because it comes in with validated data, correct date formats, no encoding issues, and no ambiguous adjustment codes. In most cases, the re-imported transactions come in clean with zero review flags.
This is a 10-minute fix for a problem that would otherwise take hours of manual clicking.
Summary Entry as a Fallback
If you have covered securities (Box A or Box D) with no adjustments, you can skip individual transaction entry entirely by using summary totals. Delete the detailed rows and enter:
- One summary row for short-term proceeds / cost basis totals
- One summary row for long-term proceeds / cost basis totals
Summary entry doesn't get flagged for review because there's only one row per category. See our full guide on 1099-B summary totals for when this works (Box A/D only, no adjustments) and the mailing requirements.
Specific Fixes by Broker
- E*TRADE / Morgan Stanley: usually the code N issue — see our E*TRADE Morgan Stanley fix guide
- Schwab: often missing dates on legacy noncovered lots; fix by supplying "Various" and basis manually
- Fidelity: usually zero-basis RSUs flagged for review — apply the adjustment
- Vanguard: mutual fund DRIP lots often split covered/noncovered and trigger flags on the noncovered portion; see Vanguard 1099-B import problems
- Robinhood: typically crypto-related flags when Robinhood Crypto 1099 data is missing
FAQ
Can I e-file with Needs Review flags still showing?
No. TurboTax blocks e-file while any row is flagged. You must either clear every flag or delete the flagged rows entirely.
What if I delete the flagged rows — will the IRS notice?
Deleting imported transactions and not replacing them is an under-reporting problem. The IRS has the same 1099-B data from your broker. Delete only if you're going to re-import the same data cleanly via a different method.
Does every broker trigger Needs Review flags?
No. Some broker integrations are cleaner than others. Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard imports tend to flag frequently. Robinhood and Webull imports flag less often but miss data (crypto on Robinhood, for instance).
Can I override the flags by force?
No official way. The edit-a-field-and-revert trick sometimes works but isn't reliable.
Is there a bulk-clear feature?
Not in TurboTax's UI. This is one of the most requested features in their community forum, and it hasn't been added.
Bottom Line
"Needs Review" is TurboTax's way of saying "something might be wrong here" — but it's often noisy and sometimes triggers on genuinely clean data. Clicking through hundreds of rows individually is a losing game. The reliable fix is to delete the broker import, convert your 1099-B PDF to TXF or CSV, and re-import clean. Ten minutes instead of two hours, and the result flows through Form 8949 without the review flag.
Stuck in TurboTax's review loop? Convert your 1099-B free — upload the PDF, download TXF or CSV, and re-import clean. No review flags, no manual row-by-row, no fighting with the import validator.