You need to adjust the cost basis for several very important reasons:
1 To avoid double taxation - For example, if your Form 1099-B has a cost of zero (0) and they report that you sold that st...
See more...
You need to adjust the cost basis for several very important reasons:
1 To avoid double taxation - For example, if your Form 1099-B has a cost of zero (0) and they report that you sold that stock for $100. You pay tax on the full $100. However, if you did pay something toward that stock (for example, you paid $75), you want to be sure that you correctly report that you have "basis" or cost in the stock.
2 To account for corporate actions, such as stock splits or mergers - For example, if you bought one share for $100, and it splits into two shares, your new basis is $50 per share, not $100. If you don't adjust your basis and sell your stock for $60. You might think you had a loss of $40, when you actually had a gain of $10.
3 To track reinvested money - For example, if you have stock that pays dividends and you re-invest automatically, you are technically using your already taxed money (profit) to buy more shares. Each time a dividend is reinvested, it increased your total cost basis. If you don't adjust, you'll end up paying tax on the dividends you already paid tax on previously.
Therefore, even when using the import feature in TurboTax, it is always a good idea to review your documents to ensure you are making any needed adjustments, especially if the "cost" is showing as zero (0) on your Form 1099-B.
Note: This adjustment is critical for employee stock options, since you probably already have ordinary income reported on your W-2. If you don't manually add that taxed amount to your cost basis, you will be paying income taxes on it twice, once as wages and then again as capital gains.