Q: I want to sell a stock to take a tax loss, but I plan to buy it again because I want it in my portfolio. What are the tax implications?
If you want to sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 calendar days before or after the sale, the wash-sale rule will kick in.
In such cases you won’t be able to take a loss for that security on your current-year tax return. Instead, you will have to add the loss to the cost basis of the replacement security. In addition, the holding period of the original security gets tacked onto to the holding period of the replacement security.
Here’s an example of how this might work:
Let’s say you buy 100 shares of XYZ stock for $10 per share ($1,000 of stock). One year later, the stock starts dropping, so you sell your 100 shares for $8 per share—a $200 loss. Three weeks later, XYZ is trading at $6 per share and you decide that price is too good to pass up, so you repurchase the 100 shares for $600. This triggers a wash sale.
As a result, the $200 loss is disallowed as a deduction on your current-year tax return and added to the cost basis of the repurchased stock. That bumps the cost basis of your $600 of replacement stock up to $800, so if you later sell that stock for $1,000, your taxable gains will be $200 instead of $400. And because you previously held XYZ for a year, it will automatically be treated as a long-term capital gain, even if you sell it after just a few months.
A few other things to note: A higher cost basis decreases the size of any future gains realized from the sale of the replacement security, thereby lowering your future tax obligation. If you sell the investment at a loss, the higher cost basis would actually increase the size of the loss for which you could claim a deduction.
And one of the potential upsides of an extended holding period is that it would lower your tax obligation if you sold the replacement security after less than a year. (Normally, short-term capital gains from investments held for less than a year are taxed at the higher regular income tax rate, while longer-term capital gains are taxed at the lower capital gains rate).
2020年前三个季度，美国超过800万人新开了经纪账户。虽然在疫情期间，股市大涨带来的兴奋感可能帮助分散了人们的注意力，但意想不到的税收后果现在正在新投资者面前显现出来。
在一个令人瞠目结舌的案例中，一个Robinhood平台的新手投资者通过炒股获得了4.5万美元的净利润，却面临着80万美元的潜在税单。这个例子突显了理解复杂的交易规则和某些策略的税收影响的重要性。这应该是对散户投资者中的新手们的一个响亮警告。
理财规划师Brian Wruk最近收到了一位30岁的Robinhood投资者的短信，他面临着一张80万美元的税单。和很多人一样，这位从事保险行业的投资者在2020年开设了一个新的经纪账户，并迅速扩大了交易规模。他每天的交易额在20万至200万美元之间，每天完成10到50笔交易。
Wruk在社交媒体上发帖，向人们讲述了这个故事：“一个年轻人打电话给我，说他2020年开了一个3万美元的经纪账户……他总共完成了4500万美元（没错，是4500万）的交易，到年底净赚了4.5万美元。他最近收到了他的1099-B税单，并用报税软件Turbo Tax计算了一下。令他懊恼的是，他有140万美元的资本利得收入，并面临略高于80万美元的税单。”
Wruk补充称：“这个可怜的家伙全年都在交易你在媒体上看到的所有热门股票……（但）他对‘洗售’（wash sale）规则一无所知。他录得获利，但所有亏损都不被认可，因为他在这些股票上从未等过30天来录得亏损。”
所谓“洗售”规则又称“虚卖”规则，美国国税局（IRS） 税法第1091条规定，在某些情况下，出售股票或证券出现的亏损是不能抵税的（而如果有收益就得缴税）。具体地说，如果纳税人在30天之内，反复出售或购买同一只股票，任何亏损都不被认可，这样的交易被视为Wash sale（洗售）。为了遵守这一规定，投资者必须等待至少31天，才能买回同一只股票。
据Citadel的Joe Mecane称，目前散户投资者在高峰日的成交量中占比高达25%，较2019年的10%大幅上升，这是普通交易者的准入门槛降低的结果，包括很多券商取消交易费用的策略。尽管“洗售”规则旨在防止纳税人利用人为制造的亏损来逃避税收，但它很容易被很多新手投资者忽视。
随着越来越多的新手投资者使用Robinhood这样的平台，这条规则“可能会给那些在2020年买进卖出同一只股票的新手带来问题。”他们的投资可能已经失去了价值，但是他们不能在他们的1040报税表格上录入亏损。”而由于你无法用这些亏损来抵消已实现的收益，你仍然需要拿出钱来支付税款。对于故事中的这位Robinhood投资者来说，这意味着80万美元的税单。
因为他的损失是added to cost basis，只要他把股票提前卖了就行了吧？
割了就移情别恋？
很难相信交易上千万的人连wash sale 都不知道。
什么人啊？
哈
Q: I want to sell a stock to take a tax loss, but I plan to buy it again because I want it in my portfolio. What are the tax implications?
If you want to sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 calendar days before or after the sale, the wash-sale rule will kick in.
In such cases you won’t be able to take a loss for that security on your current-year tax return. Instead, you will have to add the loss to the cost basis of the replacement security. In addition, the holding period of the original security gets tacked onto to the holding period of the replacement security.
Here’s an example of how this might work:
Let’s say you buy 100 shares of XYZ stock for $10 per share ($1,000 of stock). One year later, the stock starts dropping, so you sell your 100 shares for $8 per share—a $200 loss. Three weeks later, XYZ is trading at $6 per share and you decide that price is too good to pass up, so you repurchase the 100 shares for $600. This triggers a wash sale.
As a result, the $200 loss is disallowed as a deduction on your current-year tax return and added to the cost basis of the repurchased stock. That bumps the cost basis of your $600 of replacement stock up to $800, so if you later sell that stock for $1,000, your taxable gains will be $200 instead of $400. And because you previously held XYZ for a year, it will automatically be treated as a long-term capital gain, even if you sell it after just a few months.
A few other things to note: A higher cost basis decreases the size of any future gains realized from the sale of the replacement security, thereby lowering your future tax obligation. If you sell the investment at a loss, the higher cost basis would actually increase the size of the loss for which you could claim a deduction.
And one of the potential upsides of an extended holding period is that it would lower your tax obligation if you sold the replacement security after less than a year. (Normally, short-term capital gains from investments held for less than a year are taxed at the higher regular income tax rate, while longer-term capital gains are taxed at the lower capital gains rate).
平常只是增加后面交易的cost base . 那就以新的base交易, 不再亏钱就好了?
I'm lovin the game.