How would I enter info in Turbotax for cost basis, purchase date etc. for Warner Brothers (WBD) spin off sale from AT&T on April 13, 2022 for 1099-B when purchase date and cost basis records are missing (broker doesn't have it and I don't have it)?

[hellotax1111]

Thank you both!

Dave,

Thanks for confirming and providing your reasoning so I can learn from this for the future and not just check boxes because I think I will need to know this once I sell stocks in the future that are worth more than than this fractional share. I may not remember everything how good to have this thread as reference. 

also sounds like “Learn more” is not correct in its description and needs to be updated or clarified.

however good to know it won’t have much implication.

Thanks again for your time on this!

[hellotax1111]

Hi @LindaS5247 

Just to let you know I later saw that the 1099-B mentions that these should be put as Box B or E, which is non-covered (not not-reported). 

-Since you helped me with the original question, do you agree it is considered non-covered and not-reported?
I don't know the original purchase date but it was before 2011 when brokers started to be required to report cost-basis. 

-Turbotax "Learn More" says to use Box E Long Term Non-Covered if a stock is Long Term, Cost-basis is missing and only some of the other information is missing such as sales date and sales price. Do you think Turbotax's description is correct?

[ErnieS0]

TurboTax is correct. Use Box E if the basis is not shown or the basis shown was not reported to the IRS on Form 1099-B.

You mentioned receiving a Form 1099-B in your original post. The 1099-B should have the correct letter codes on the form.

[hellotax1111]

Thank you @ErnieS0 !

[Sandy88]

Hi. I’m having the same issue with AT&T and WBD merger and spin off. I was originally putting various in the date acquired line and long term not reported lower down but  now it looks like in answer to my question, I’m being told to use the date of the spin off as both the date of acquisition and date of sale. I thought I was okay but now reading this thread, I’m confused. I did not receive a 1099B since the amount of the check was less than $20 and I’m really struggling to try to do this correctly. 

[RobertB4444]

No, you were correct to enter it as you did the first time provided you had the AT&T stock for more than a year before the sale.  

@Sandy88 

[Iammamie]

If you did not sell anything before you woke up with the WBD stock in your account and only have fractional shares you would list the sale date of the fractional shares on 4/13/2022.  Then you would need the date of the ATT stock sold for to figure out the cost basis for the money you got from WBD for them.