Welcome Guest. Register Now!  



Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 07-09-2014, 02:18 PM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1
1982 Date of Death and Cost Basis

Taxpayer dies in February, 1982. At the time she has AT&T stock. I have the stock price for AT&T in Feb 1982, but I dod not know the number of shares owned at death. The State Comptrollers Office finds the beneficiary in 2013 and pays her approx $75,000 in unclaimed funds money. At the end of 2013, the Estate gets 14 1099B's from the State which show the sale date, amount, and number of shares from 14 different Telecom companies (probably AT&T spinoffs). We have no records from the deceased. What logical method can I use for calculating the Cost Basis for the 1099B's the Estate received? Any suggestions?



Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Reddit! stumble!bookmark in google!Share on Facebook!
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 07-11-2014, 09:58 PM
Moderator
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 5,258
Quote:
Originally Posted by a3kbrisk View Post
Taxpayer dies in February, 1982. At the time she has AT&T stock. I have the stock price for AT&T in Feb 1982, but I dod not know the number of shares owned at death. The State Comptrollers Office finds the beneficiary in 2013 and pays her approx $75,000 in unclaimed funds money. At the end of 2013, the Estate gets 14 1099B's from the State which show the sale date, amount, and number of shares from 14 different Telecom companies (probably AT&T spinoffs). We have no records from the deceased. What logical method can I use for calculating the Cost Basis for the 1099B's the Estate received? Any suggestions?
needless to say, say you bought the shares yourself, your basis is what you paid for the shares, including brokerage commissions and of course different rules apply if you inherited the stock or received it as a gift. as you don't have that paperwork, then you'll have to take a few more steps to track down the cost. It's worthwhile to find out how much you paid -- otherwise, you'll get stuck paying taxes on the total value when you sell the shares rather than just on the earnings, leaving you with a much bigger tax bill than you actually owe. You may contact those brokers since they must keep records for six years, and some go back further.
If the brokers don't keep records that far back, you can try to remember when she bought the shares and see what they were selling for then. A stock certificate might be dated or old tax returns might show when she began reporting dividend income. Then you may look up historical price quotes. Or I guess you can contact; PG&E’s site has a ton of good resources, including stock split and dividend history going back to 1912 and historical price going back to 1980. The site also has the contact information for the shareholder services department, which might be able to answer your questions about the share price before 1980.
PG&E Corporation - Stock Info - Quote & Chart



Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Reddit! stumble!bookmark in google!Share on Facebook!
Reply With Quote
Ads
Reply



Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Estimating Cost Basis with unknow purchase date trvlnlzzrd Capital Gains 1 04-09-2011 03:02 AM
Unknown cost basis of a spinoff and unknown basis date Joy Joy Capital Gains 1 07-12-2010 10:35 AM
Update Cost Basis upon Death of Co-Owner? dldaven Capital Gains 0 10-10-2009 05:44 PM
Cost Basis Liquidating stocks after death scarletsupra Capital Gains 0 05-30-2009 11:31 PM
Unknown cost basis or purchase date Fladabosco Capital Gains 3 03-03-2009 02:51 PM

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Google Buzz Rss Feeds

» Categories
 
Individual
 » Income
 » IRA/Sep
 » Medical
 
Corporations
 » Payroll
 
Forum for CPAs
 
Financial Planning
 
 
 

» Recent Tax Q&A
No Threads to Display.