Walgreens 1099-B: Box 1e Cost or Other Basis is empty

[Tulane]

Hi,

In 2025 Walgreens stopped distributing dividends and sold the common stocks (WAL1). In 2026, my sister received a 1099-B and Box 1e Cost or Other Basis was left empty. She worked for Walgreens 1999-2010. She did not purchase stocks, nor employee stock options. She received these stocks for merit. The problem is she cannot remember the date it was given (most likely multiple times through the years) and what price each stock was worth each time. I do  not know what information to fill out on TT Home & Business for Box 1e? I would appreciate guidance on this matter.

Thank you,

Tulane

[DavidD66]

You can't determine a cost basis will have to use $0.00.  Another option would find the historical trading data for WBA and take the lowest price during the period your sister worked for the company.  There are multiple websites that will provide you historical price information, although some sites may not provide it for Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) since it was taken private and delisted.  

For acquisition date use "Various".  For the sales section select: Box E - Long Term - Basis not Reported to the IRS. 

[Tulane]

Thank you, @DavidD66. It would be difficult going through 9 years of Walgreens stock to find the lowest price. I will give it a try. If not, there is always $0.00 for cost basis.

Actually, since my sister did not purchase the stock and it was given to her, shouldn't the cost basis be $0.00?

Thanks again,

Tulane

[DavidD66]

You can try using the free version of an AI service to get the lowest stock price.  As for the stock having been given to her, the company would have had to report the value at time as income, and she would have paid tax on the value.  Therefore, her basis would be the value at the time it was given to her, not zero. 

[Tulane]

Hi @DavidD66 

I searched website https://www.investing.com/equities/walgreen-co-historical-data and found that during 1999-2010, historical data showed the lowest price was $21.280 on 27Oct2008.

Do I now calculate $21.280 x 134 Walgreens shares sold = $2851.52 and input this into Total cost or other basis (sum of all Box 1e)? Or do leave this box blank and report this on Form 8949, Part I with Box B checked or on Form 8949, Part II with Box E checked (this is instructed in Form 1099-B Box 5)?

Thank you,

Tulane

[RogerD1 · Accepted solution]

So it looks like you got the low price of the stock figured out, which is good.  Another potential issue may be that the stock may have split 2 for 1 which would alter the cost of the shares.  Based on what I found, WBA stock last split in early 1999 but you should do your own research to verify that, which would make most if not all of your shares "non-split".

As for the term, Long-Term is for stocks held for more than a year while short term is stocks held for 1 year or less.  If dividends from WBA were used to purchase additional stock, then it's possible that some of the shares may be short term, but the vast majority of them are going to be Long-term.  If additional shares were not purchased from dividends paid by WBA, then all of the shares would have Sale Section of Long-term basis not reported to the IRS (Noncovered)

For the total cost or other basis enter 0.

Check the box I need to adjust my total cost basis.  In the Total adjustments to gain (or loss make a negative entry there for the basis you calculated - in your example, it would be -$2821.52.  Then check the box for B (cost basis incorrect on form)

You will need to mail in a copy of this 1099-B in to the IRS along with a Form 8453 that you will be able to print out.  They will be mailed to:

          Internal Revenue Service

          Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254

          Receipt and Control Branch

          Austin, TX  73344-2054

[Tulane]

Hi @RogerD1,

Thank you for your help. My sister was able to find Walgreens employment started in June 1999. This implies that the Walgreens stock given were almost 3-4 months after the stock split. Hence, this should not impact the number of shares. In addition, there was no reinvestment of dividends.

For some reason, I cannot enter 'Various" and '08/28/25' in Form 8949, Part II (b) and (c) (highlighted above).

Thank you so much for your help. This was really helpful.

Regards,

Tulane

[RogerD1]

Since this is a summary sale of multiple transactions (noted by the M in column F), there won't need to be any information for the date acquired or the date sold or disposed.  That's why there wasn't anywhere to enter this information in TurboTax.

That's good information on the stock split as well as the dividends reinvestments - this would otherwise impact the number of shares and the basis/share as well.  Be sure to keep this information about the stock splits and no reinvestment of dividends with the tax records for 2025 in case they are ever needed.

[Tulane]

Thank you kindly, @RogerD1 and @DavidD66. Both of you have made this easy for me to understand and apply to TT. I couldn't have done this without your knowledge and expertise.

Regards,

Tulane

[Tulane]

Hi,

It appears that the Walgreens stock my sister has was part of her Retirement Savings Plan. I believe that I will still process this information the same way that @DavidD66 and @RogerD1 have mentioned here on this forum.

In addition, what do I need to do here? Is this considered an employee stock? I do not believe it to be one of these "ESPP, RSU, RS, NQSO, and ISO" based on the description below:

I'm not sure if this is a YES or NO answer.

Thank you,

Tulane

[DaveF1006]

To clarify, was the stock distributed or is it part of her retirement plan and still inside the plan?

[Tulane]

She did not receive a check for this so it is still kept in her retirement plan.

Thank you,

Tulane

[RogerD1]

If your sister did not receive the proceeds from the sale of this stock and the stock was sold and remained in her retirement plan, then there would not be a taxable event associated with this.  Does your sister have records stating that the proceeds from the sale of the stock were directly sent to her retirement plan?

The other issue here is that, if the stocks were sold and the proceeds were not distributed, but remained in the retirement plan, there should not have been a 1099-B issued for the stock sales.  In any retirement plan, the underlying investments can be changed and the investments when sold do not trigger a taxable event.

In your sister's case, it would be great if she had some documentation to show that the WBA stocks were sold and remained in the retirement plan.  Those records would back up not needing to report the 1099-B transactions on her tax return.

Your sister may want to consider contacting the issuer of the 1099-B to get more information as to why it was issued if the proceeds remained inside the retirement plan, and ask for that form to be corrected.

In the instance, that these stock sales were actually not kept by the retirement plan but were distributed to your sister, the way these stock sales will get reported will not be the same as the earlier discussions.  If you need any additional information, please feel free to reply back with your questions.

[Tulane]

Hi @RogerD1 ,

My sister and I finally called Equiniti and found out that my sister did not receive the check because she had to turn in her Walgreens certificates. This will not be likely as she received it in 2002. Fortunately Equiniti has a Letter of Transmittal that will allow shareholders to report lost certificates. For $75, Equiniti can send the check to her as they were able to verify that she does have a certificate for X shares. Hence, my sister will need to report 1099-B proceeds to IRS for 2025 as her shares were liquidated last year. Equiniti has nothing to do with her retirement account. What a headache. I'm glad you asked me all the right questions to get me through this hurdle. My sister and I are grateful for all the tax experts here.

I will file 1099-B as instructed from this discussion chain. I believe my questions and concerns are now resolved.

Regards,

Tulane

[Tulane]

Hi @RogerD1 ,

You are right. I ran into another snag. I'm not sure how to enter this now. My sister has Walgreens 134 shares acquired in 09/2002. However, she does not remember if it was a gift from company or whether she purchased it. She believes she did not purchase it. Walgreens did a merger with Sycamore and all shares were sold on 08/28/2005. Now how do I enter this in TT Home & Business as I know the date acquired and sold but have a problem with "What type of investment did you sell?" and "How did you receive this investment?" Is this how I would enter it in TT?

Thank you,

Tulane