In taxes, there is a saying: “Those who keep records win.” If you are an investor, you may have a variety of securities, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. When you sell those securities, naturally you want to minimize your gains or maximize your losses for tax purposes. Gain or loss is measured from your tax basis in the investment (asset), which makes it important to keep track of the basis in all your investments.

What is Basis?

Generally, your basis in an investment begins with the price that was paid to purchase the investment. However, that will not be the case if the investment was acquired by gift or inheritance. For inherited assets, the basis generally begins with the FMV of the asset on the decedent’s date of death or an alternative valuation date, if chosen by the executor of Read More