Here are the IRS's instructions for filling out Column (c)—Date Sold or Disposed Of and Column (b)—Date Acquired
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Column (c)—Date Sold or Disposed Of
Enter in this column the date you sold or disposed of the property. Use the trade date for stocks and bonds traded on an exchange or over-the-counter market. For a short sale, enter the date you delivered the property to the broker or lender to close the short sale.
If you received a Form 1099-B (or substitute statement), box 1c may help you determine when you sold or disposed of the property.
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Column (b)—Date Acquired
Enter in this column the date you acquired the property. Enter the trade date for stocks and bonds you purchased on an exchange or over-the-counter market. For a short sale, enter the date you acquired the property delivered to the broker or lender to close the short sale. For property you previously elected to treat as having been sold and reacquired on January 1, 2001 (or January 2, 2001, for readily tradeable stock), enter the date of the deemed sale and reacquisition.
If you received a Form 1099-B (or substitute statement), box 1b may help you determine when you acquired the property.
Inherited property.
Generally, if you disposed of property that you acquired by inheritance, report the sale or exchange on a Part II with the appropriate box checked (D, E, or F). Enter "INHERITED" in column (b).
Stock acquired on various dates.
If you sold a block of stock (or similar property) that you acquired through several different purchases, you may report the sale on one row and enter "VARIOUS" in column (b). However, you still must report the short-term gain or (loss) on the sale on Part I and the long-term gain or (loss) on Part II.
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You'll notice that the
only date column where the word various is acceptable on Form 8949 is the Date Acquired column, not the Date Sold column.
Tom Young
