Yes, wash-sale rules apply across all of your accounts, including those at other financial institutions. In addition, wash-sale rules also apply to transactions in your spouse’s accounts. IRS regulations require only that a broker track and report wash sales on the same CUSIP number (a unique nine-character identifier for a security) within the same account. Ultimately, each individual is responsible for tracking sales in their accounts (and their spouse's accounts) to ensure they don’t have a wash sale.
if the security has a CUSIP number, then it's subject to wash-sale rules. In addition, selling a stock at a loss and then buying an option on that same stock will trigger the wash-sale rule.
ETFs and mutual funds present investors a different set of challenges. Switching from one ETF to an identical ETF offered by another company could trigger a wash-sale. The IRS has ruled (Rev. Rul. 2008-5) that when an individual sells a security at a loss and then repurchases that security in their (or their spouses’) IRA within 30 days before or after the sale, that loss will be subject to the wash-sale rules.
Could you sell a security at a loss on Dec. 15, in order to squeeze it into the current tax year, and then repurchase the security on Jan. 4 without triggering a wash sale? No, the wash-sale rules are not confined to the calendar year. In this situation and your loss would be disallowed if you reacquired the security within 30 days.
