Item 1.e on a 1099-B: cost basis information not available

[leland-b-burns]

Several entries on a 1099-B that I received have a value of "N/A" for item 1.e "cost basis."  The payer reports that "cost basis information is not available."  How do I handle this on my returns?  Turbo Tax tells me that a positive value is required.

[LeeM]

You are taxed on the difference between your proceeds and the cost basis. So, as of now, you are being taxed on all of your proceeds if you do not enter a cost basis. If you paid anything for the stock, etc. sold, then you are being over taxed.

If a cost basis is not reported, then you have to come up with one to enter. 

First, I would always be as conservative as possible if you follow the recommendations below.  

I would try to come up with a date range as close to the actual date acquired as you can (in your case it may be 1995). As long as it is over a year old, it will not make a difference for tax purposes. 

Once you have an acquisition date or range, I would go to the Yahoo Finance Historical Stock Price page at http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=YHOO.  

You can then enter the stock ticker symbol and date range for a list of prices by day. I would use the lowest stock price and day in your range as the date acquired and cost in order to be as conservative as possible.

[cdelaney1117]

Do you still report your cost basis when that info is blank on the 1099 even if you know it was a wash sale?  I sold for a loss and I am reporting the difference as the loss dissallowed but wanted to make sure wash rule doesnt prevent me from entering the cost basis as well.

[TomYoung]

You ALWAYS enter the correct cost basis for the sale of any security.  Leaving it blank would, initially, tax you on the full amount of proceeds, a gain, so entering an amount in Box 1g for a wash sale loss wouldn't make any sense, (don't know if TurboTax would catch that), and if anything would increase your gain beyond the full proceeds.