Worthless stock write-off

[JimDenver1]

I have American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) for the underlying Russian stocks. These ADRs are not trading in US for a year while the underlying stock trades in Russia ok. US financial institutions (Citi, BONY, etc) that sponsored there ADRs exited depositary agreements in mid ' 22 and, effectively, abandoned underlying securities. Thus, there is no link between these phantom ADRs and underlying Russian shares. Can I consider these ADRs worthless for tax purposes and write them off  for '22? Brokerage statement shows some of them with N/A in the value column.

[MaryK4]

It is too early to classify as worthless stock for tax purposes.  The Wall Street Journal has said "The receipts won't be worthless-effectively they still represent an economic interest in the company. Holders could still collect dividends, for example. But only non-American entities will want to buy the ADRs, which is likely to reduce their value, and they could become difficult to trade and to value."  This IRS has not provided a firm position.

[JimDenver1]

WSJ view is factually incorrect. ADR holders don't receive any dividends since 03/22. It's not possible for two reasons. US institutions stepped out of depositary agreements so ADRs are delinked from the underlying stock. No payments can be passed through. It's true though that underlying Russian stocks continue to trade and pay dividends. The second reason is that Russian government doesn't even allow dividend payments to foreign entities now for an indefinite period of time. The dividends that are credited to the shares in the delinked (defunct) ADR trust are staying in the lock box account in Russia and cannot be paid out to the holders even if ADR trust was fully operational.

[MaryK4]

In re-reading your original post and the clarifications, I do think that you would be able to claim as worthless because as you said, the ADR abandoned the securities.   See Worthless Securities.

@JimDenver1