I received a 1099-B for a 1-to-1 stock exchange that happened as a result of the Praxair/Linde merger last year. As far as I can tell from researching online, my tax liability is proceeds minus cost basis and that cost basis in this case is just the fair market value of the stocks at the time of the merger. Since there were no gains in the merger, I assume this works out to zero and therefore I have no tax liability -- does that sound right?
However, the original Praxair stock was a gift from my father in law which makes me less sure that that is the correct way to address this. Does that situation do anything to change how this is handled?
