My wife's parents started a fund for her when she was younger with money given to them by her grandparents. My wife's parents added funds over time, and they are not sure exactly when they did this either. The account is in both her name and her father's name. Her parents cashed out part of the account to buy her a car and give us the remainder. The bank did not track the cost basis, as the account was transferred to them at some point in time from another bank and they told us the account was created before they were required to keep track of this information. We also do not know when the account was created exactly, but they are fairly certain it was around 1994. My father in law thinks he showed the value of the account each year on their taxes and paid any necessary income taxes each year as well. He then thinks we should only owe on the difference between the value when it was sold this year and when it was reported last year. The bank also did not report the type of gain or loss in the Form 1099B. I am not sure how to file this, or if my father in law is supposed to be filing it, or if anyone even needs to be filing it. Any help is greatly appreciated.
