[blueash]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

There are technical rules, and then there is practicality. Given that in most cases, the difference will be a dollar a share or less, the impact on taxes paid / owed will not be significantly questionable for an auditor to flag the issue as an audit issue for the average middle class non professional.

Since the filer is non considered a professional financial licensed and regulated individual, we are not held to the same standard of performance as a brokerage or a CPA, whose license can be at risk. That quote and level of performance is provided to the audience to which the professional and licensed individuals are held. Since the brokerage does not have a cost, its up to the individual.

The more typical scenario is a very long term hold of a dividend reinvested share purchased sale. There are 4 purchases a year with tiny amounts of shares over time, and to further complicate, can be a distribution from an ESOP, which my Wife has, and I have as well. The IRS requires a cost, with the option of various dates. The question is: how accurate will you be for records that may have been lost in the last 40 years. I have exxon stock which i purchased in 1981, dividends reinvested over X years with splits. I will do the best estimate I can if the custodian of the dividend reinvestment program can't provide the cost basis for me.

So here's the essence of my reply: there is always a grey area of what's an acceptable difference in quality between a professional and a non professional. There are differences in personality types for the level of judgmental, Briggs Myers ***J or fourth position, which is presented in the adherence to rules based logic and laws and black and white, binary decision making, as a generalization.

I am not a J, i am a P, or perceiver, and as such, look at all rules as not as absolutes, but as guidelines and if you aren't qualified as a professional you have some lee way in the quality of your work.

And finance is all about the future, and valuations done not based in past accounting, but in the future cash flows and growth projections from today. Totally subjective as the the future is always uncertain. If i signed off as CPA guy, or CFP guy, then i would be licensed and have a different level of care than a non professional.

does that explain the source of my response?
and your MB type must end in J, correct?

thank you for admitting you were wrong. You present as a professional here and your audience has just been told that you fudge around the edges and hope you don't get caught. Nonetheless, your advice to use the highest value of the day is wrong and an attempt to cheat the tax man and hope you get away with it.

I have absolutely no idea what the stuff about a J guy or a MB type means. I only came here to correct your wrong advice as "finance guy" If you are not a qualified CPA or tax lawyer maybe you should say so when you tell people how to do their taxes which is what you did in your post about a tax return problem. You even advised us that we should ignore the wash sale information the brokerage house sends us as you believe it is a grey area we can override. Pretty specific suggestion to ignore the experts from someone who now says he's not a professional in the field.