How to find out the cost basis of a stock

Cost basis is critical for investors because you need to track it in order to prepare your tax returns. In a nutshell, cost basis is what you paid for an investment plus any money you reinvested, such as additional purchases, dividends and capital gains. You take your cost basis and subtract that amount from the proceeds you receive when you sell your stock, ETF shares or mutual funds.

See how the math works and ways to organize your investment data for tax identify the shares of stock or the bonds you sold, their basis is the cost or other  How to calculate your cost basis and access cost basis worksheets. Using your own records, determine the date you acquired your shares and the cost per  14 Feb 2014 It goes by the name "cost basis," and it is the starting point for measuring profit or loss on the sale of an investment, whether it is a stock, bond,  8 Nov 2014 As you can see, a stock split does not affect the total value of your investment, but rather simply gives you more shares with a lower price per 

If you bought the stock yourself, your basis is what you paid for the shares, including brokerage commissions (different rules apply if you inherited the stock or received it as a gift). If you have your old trade confirmations, it'll be easy to look up the amount of money you originally invested.

How to calculate your cost basis and access cost basis worksheets. Using your own records, determine the date you acquired your shares and the cost per  14 Feb 2014 It goes by the name "cost basis," and it is the starting point for measuring profit or loss on the sale of an investment, whether it is a stock, bond,  8 Nov 2014 As you can see, a stock split does not affect the total value of your investment, but rather simply gives you more shares with a lower price per  NetBasis will automatically calculate the cost basis for your Medtronic stock, by adjusting for any corporate actions or dividend reinvestments. All you need to get   16 Mar 2013 stock splits and company mergers. With your cost basis in hand, you can then figure out how much you've gained or lost when you sold the  28 Mar 2017 You should also find out whether the donor paid any gift tax when giving you this stock. If so, you might find the basis on his or her gift tax return 

Look up your financial records for the asset whose cost basis you want to calculate. Determine the initial amount of money invested. For example, if you invested $1000 for Stock XYZ, the cost basis is $1000. If you bought a house for $250,000, then the cost basis for the house is $250,000.

The tax basis of stock you purchase is what you pay for it, plus the commission you pay. Say you buy 100 shares of XYZ Inc. at $40 a share, and you pay a $100 commission. The total cost is $4,100 and the tax basis of each of your shares is $41. A cost basis method is reported with the brokerage firm where your assets are held. Many brokerage firms default to the average cost basis method. In general, bond premium is the amount by which your basis in a debt instrument right after you acquire it is more than the total of all amounts payable on the debt instrument after you acquire it (other than payments of qualified stated interest). For more information about bond premium, see Pub. 550 and Pub.1212.

When available, the cost basis on your Form 1099-B provides the information you need to determine gains or losses from redeemed Hover over the letters to get more information on each field. Does a stock dividend affect my cost basis?

What is the cost basis of my investment? for all your cost basis questions Things called corporate actions occur such as stock spinoffs, mergers, splits, split -offs, rights, Did you know that class action claim checks and even a corporate  

Determine your cost basis in shares of Verizon Communications, Inc. with our of an asset for tax purposes, usually the purchase price, adjusted for stock splits,  

If not, they might still be able and willing to look up the historical stock price for you. Go online for historical stock prices. For example, the historical section at Marketwatch or Nasdaq. It's generally acceptable to take the lowest and highest price from a given day and average them to arrive at a cost. If your best estimate is a date range rather than a specific date, use the historical prices at the start date and end date of that time frame to come up with an average stock price for that time period. Make sure you keep a record of your calculation in case the IRS wants to know how you came up with the cost basis. Divide your total cost basis – the amount you paid to acquire all shares within a lot – by the number of shares you have after the split. The result is your new cost-per share. For example, if you purchase 100 shares of stock that each cost $10, you pay $1,000 for the lot. Look up your financial records for the asset whose cost basis you want to calculate. Determine the initial amount of money invested. For example, if you invested $1000 for Stock XYZ, the cost basis is $1000. If you bought a house for $250,000, then the cost basis for the house is $250,000.

8 Nov 2014 As you can see, a stock split does not affect the total value of your investment, but rather simply gives you more shares with a lower price per  NetBasis will automatically calculate the cost basis for your Medtronic stock, by adjusting for any corporate actions or dividend reinvestments. All you need to get   16 Mar 2013 stock splits and company mergers. With your cost basis in hand, you can then figure out how much you've gained or lost when you sold the  28 Mar 2017 You should also find out whether the donor paid any gift tax when giving you this stock. If so, you might find the basis on his or her gift tax return  In most cases, the cost basis of an investment is the original price upon acquisition. Certain events like stock splits, the issuance of specific types of dividends as well as wash sale The goal of the act is to help ensure the accurate reporting of gains and losses, and to simplify your year-end tax preparation. Get in touch