How to report a stock sale with no clear cost basis?

[pgallett]

I had owned some stock about 15 years ago and sold it a few years later.

As part of a class action lawsuit after I sold the stock, part of that settlement was awarding shareholders more stock during that time period. This was about 5 years or so after I sold it.

So I ended up with another bucket of shares. I held those for a few years and sold it in 2024. I have no idea how to calculate cost basis. To make it even more challenging to trace back, the brokerages I had when the second batch came in have been sold to other brokerages, so the records are not great (nor are mine). 

I can determine the value of the stock when I acquired the batch from the settlement, can I use that as the cost-basis? Any other ideas? 

Thanks!

[DianeW777]

If I understand your situation, the original stock was sold several years ago. It would seem that when you sold the stock at that time, you would have used your full cost basis against the gross proceeds in that tax year.

The stock awarded from the class action lawsuit would have zero cost basis since it was all used when the original stock was sold. If this does describe your situation, then you will enter the selling price with no cost basis, aside from selling expenses. Use the information in the link below to enter your stock sale.

• Where do I enter investment sales?