You may not need this data. When taking a distribution from a traditional IRA (as opposed to a ROTH IRA distribution), the withdrawal is considered ORDINARY INCOME. Even though you held the investment for more than a year, it is not the same as a capital gain on a regular investment. The cost basis not needed for taxes. While you may want to know this information to calculate investment returns, it is not part of the tax return.
One thing you want to be aware of: when you take a distribution from your IRA, the taxes are due in the quarter you receive the funds. The due date is generally the 15th of the first month after the quarter: JAN-MAR due APR 15; APR-JUN due JUL 15; JUL-SEP due OCT 15; OCT-DEC due JAN 15. April 15 is usually the FILING DEADLINE. If you owe more than $1,000 two years in a row, then you will have to pay under payment additional taxes, so you don't want to get a larger tax bill than required. If withdrawing from a broker or investment firm, normally they will have a box where you say how much withholding to send to the IRS. Example: You want to withdraw $30,000 for a vehicle purchase. Presuming your taxable income (married filing jointly) is $100,000, your marginal tax rate is 22%. To get $30,000 net divide 30,000/ 0.78 = 38,462, so your withdrawal amount is $38,462, tax withheld @ 22% is 8,462, net to you is $30,000. Realize also that your previous income of $100,000 is now $138,462 for the year. Knowing where the next bracket starts, you may want to keep the withdrawal below the next bracket where the tax rate is higher. If you have been financially fortunate and accumulated several hundred thousand dollars, then hire a fiduciary tax accountant to help design a plan if what you read and learn is not clear.
Look at your MARGINAL TAX RATE, not your effective tax rate. Your filing status affects the rates. Tax brackets available here: https://taxfoundation.org/2022-tax-brackets/
All of this became clear to me when I withdrew from my traditional IRA for a major purchase. When I realized the withdrawal was ordinary income, I felt a fool because I had been saving for over 30 years at that point. A basic brokerage investment would have been a long term capital gain and a lower tax rate than ordinary income rate that an IRA withdrawal is. If you have both Traditional and ROTH IRA, then I suggest withdraw from the Traditional first and pay the tax. Reasons are: Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) are REQUIRED on Traditional IRA's beginning at age 72, ROTH does not have RMD. Tax rates going up or down? Unknown but not expected to decline in the future. The growth of ROTH funds will remain TAX FREE as you paid the tax when the year the ROTH was established.
Hopefully this example helped provide clarity for you. Good luck.
