@Opus 17 wrote:
Whenever the recipient sells the stock, the capital gains will be the difference between the sales proceeds and the owner's cost basis.
That is not necessarily the case in all instances. The donee (recipient) should know the fair market value of the shares on the date of the gift as well as the donor's cost basis.
See https://www.irs.gov/faqs/capital-gains-losses-and-sale-of-home/property-basis-sale-of-home-etc/prope...
It should be noted that it is generally not a great idea for a donor to gift someone shares in which the donor has an unrealized loss.
EX: Donor paid $20,000 for shares that have declined to $17,000 (FMV) on the date of the gift. Donee later sells the shares for $16,000, a loss of $1,000 (difference between FMV and the sale price). Result is that Donor's unrealized loss of $3,000 disappears forever (Donor would have been better off selling the shares to recognize the loss and then gifting the $17,000 in cash to Donee).
