Variation of a wash sale question

[Gamjangles]

I purchased 100 shares of stock in a Roth IRA and sold it for a gain. I then bought a 1000 shares of the same stock within 30 days in my taxable account and sold it the same day for a loss. Did the buy in the IRA, because it was within 30 days of the buy/sell in the taxable account negate my loss (I.e, trigger a wash sale) even though the position in the IRA was closed before buying/selling in the taxable account? Essentially is there a wash sale in this scenario? Thanks!

[Anonymous_]

If your positions in the substantially identical security are all closed, you should have no issues.

[dmertz]

The loss on 100 shares in the taxable account appears to result in the sale of those 100 shares being a wash sale because there was a purchase of 100 shares of the same stock in the Roth IRA less than 30 days earlier.  Because the purchase was in a Roth account, the loss on the sale of 100 of the shares in the taxable account can never be realized because the loss increases the cost basis of the shares in the Roth IRA while per-share cost basis in a Roth IRA is meaningless.  The purchase and sale of the other 900 shares would not be a wash sale.

[Gamjangles]

Thanks for the responseI I’m having trouble  seeing why this would be the case. The wash sale rule is meant to prevent you from claiming a loss by repurchasing shares in the same company either 30 days before or after. In this case, the buy in the Roth was opened and completely closed (0 shares remain) so why would that prevent me from buying and selling the same stock ten days later in a taxable account and claiming the loss?  It would definitely be a wash sale if I still owned the shares in the Roth and tried to take the loss in the taxable account ten days later but in this case I didn’t  own any shares in the Roth before opening and closing in the taxable account. I believe this is why the first responder to the question said it’s likely not a wash sale. Thanks again for helping!!

[dmertz]

See Rev. Rul. 2008-5 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb08-03.pdf) which provides that "if an individual sells stock or securities for a loss and causes his or her IRA or Roth IRA to purchase substantially identical stock or securities within a specified period [30 days before or after the sale], the loss on the sale of the stock or securities is disallowed under section 1091 of the Code, and the individual’s basis in the IRA or Roth IRA is not increased by virtue of section 1091(d)."