Cap. gain on stocks

[burchtj]

What is the name of your state?Kansas
I have shares of stock that were purchased in early 70s and allowed to grow and split over the years. They were originally given as a gift, I have no idea what the initial price per share was, nor what the price was at time of splits. I want to sell my shares at this time, how do I figure the cap. gains tax????

[dallas702]

It's actually not that hard to search archives for stock prices for certain years. The splits (and possible reverse splits) could be provided by the company financial records if there weren't too manny changes of ownership/name/etc.

I went through this with an insurance company trying to track dividends and interest for a 25 year period, and with two mergers. They stonewalled me for years until I took the issue into U.S. Tax Court, and the IRS forced them to find and release the info. BUT...they did have all the numbers.

I haven't done this in some time, but I'll bet the IRS and a good CPA or Enrolled Agent will know the latest methods.

[abezon]

If you were given shares, did you receive actual stock certificates or did someone just transfer ownership on the corporate books/brokerage account to your name? If so, you can get the custodian at that time to tell you when the shares were purchased.

If that doesn't work, can you pin down the purchase date to a range of 1-3 years? The IRS has to allow you a basis equal to the minimum price/share within that time period.

To figure out the number of shares originally purchased, start with the number of shares currently held & run the splits/dividends backwards. Start from the oldest statement you have to reduce the chance of error.