[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Title:Market Investing
Moderator:2155::michaud
Created:Thu Jan 23 1992
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1060
Total number of notes:10477

814.0. "Tax ? on Gift Stocks" by POWDML::DLANE (Debbi) Tue Jan 03 1995 18:56

    Tax Question:
    
    If you recieve stocks as a gift and then sell at a loss, how is it
    reported for taxes?
    
    Purchase Price - Sale Price = Loss
    or
    Gift Price - Sale Price = Loss
    or
    Sale Price = Gain
    
    If I go by the price of the stock when it was received as a gift, how
    would I find out the price for that date?
    
    Debbi
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
814.1The following topic didn't have any useful info?NETRIX::michaudJeff Michaud, UC1Thu Jan 05 1995 01:381
   678  GRILLA::LALIBERTE     9-FEB-1994     6  TRANSFERRING ASSETS/GIFTS/TAXES, etc.
814.2POWDML::DLANEDebbiThu Jan 05 1995 12:353
    Thanks for the pointer...
    
    Debbi
814.3Stock Tax ?POWDML::DLANEDebbiTue Jan 10 1995 15:197
    Okay, I went back and read note #678 but that still didn't answer my 
    question.  Since the stock was received as a gift, it has decreased 
    in value considerably.  Can that money (the difference between what it
    was worth when it was received and what it sold for) be taken as a loss 
    on taxes (since at all times it was under $10,000).
    
    Debbi
814.4a guessNETCAD::FLOWERSHub Engineering - DanTue Jan 10 1995 16:148
>			Can that money (the difference between what it
>    was worth when it was received and what it sold for) be taken as a loss 
>    on taxes (since at all times it was under $10,000).

Since it was a gift of less than 10,000, then doesn't it look (to the gov't)
like you bought the stock with your own money?  And thus the loss is yours too?

Dan
814.5Do more researchPOBOXB::SMELSERWed Jan 11 1995 11:1810
    Please check elsewhere to be sure, but I think that your cost basis for
    the gift is the same as the cost basis to the person who made the gift
    to you (*not* the value of the gift when you received it).  This means
    that any loss incurred since the gift was made may only reduce the gain
    in value since the original owner purchased it.  Of course, *maybe* the
    original owners cost basis was higher than its current value, in which
    case you do get a tax benefit when you sell.
    
    Note that this rule is different from inheriting property, where the
    cost basis *is* the value when the person dies.
814.6anyone know for usre the answer to .0NETCAD::FLOWERSHigh Performance Networking; DanTue Jan 23 1996 15:374
This is an old topic -- but I'm still curious what the right answer is...does
anyone know?

Dan
814.7Get the bookTLE::EKLUNDAlways smiling on the inside!Tue Jan 23 1996 16:3117
    	I thought the answer would be simple, but it is not.  Get a
    current copy (I have an older one) of Publication 17, and look under
    Gains and Losses, particularly Basis.  The example given is that you
    are given an acre of land as a gift with a FMV of $8000, but the
    donor's adjusted basis was $10,000.  If you later sell for $12,000,
    you have a $2000 gain, but if you sell at $7000, you have a $1000
    loss!  Any price between $8000 and $10000 results in neither a gain
    nor a loss.
    
    	There are also other factors, such as whether a gift tax was paid
    (over $10,000), and whether the property was transferred from a spouse.
    
	Hope this helps...
    
    Cheers!
    Dave Eklund