Monday, November 8, 2010

Counting Up The Losses

It's GM stock is worthless. I got a response to my question about how to sell the old GM stock which is now Motors Liquidation Co. Computershare said I could mail in the request or call a representative but that the fee to sell was $15 and 7 cents per share. Since my shares are only worth $8 they said it wasn't worth it to sell.

I printed out that email and I will keep it for my tax records. The loss on the stock should cancel out any gain I got from my other stocks...assuming I got any gain at all. Maybe Proctor and Gamble had a little bit of gain. I have a feeling I am going to have more loss that I can use.


Dave said...

Daizy, if you don't actually sell the GM shares, I don't think you can declare the loss on your taxes. But you should check with a tax advisor. If the stock's value actually dropped to zero I belive you could. Might this be an exception because of the added cost of selling the shares makes them effectively worthless I do not know.

As to how much of a capital loss you can deduct on your income taxes, you can include a $3,000 net capital loss. Anything over that you can carry forward into next year.

Petunia 100 said...

You're OK to deduct it as it is worthless. Here's an address to the relevant information in IRS Publication 550:

Daizy said...

I think I will try to figure out if I have any gains to offset from my other stocks. I'm thinking I probably don't.

Petunia 100 said...

That's great, then you can claim up to 3k negative on the "capital gain or loss" line, reducing your taxable income. If your loss is greater than 3k, you can "save" the rest for future years.

OK, not great, but the tax savings does soften the blow.