Selling stocks without acquisition prices

[Julian95]

When I transferred my stocks and ETF shares from a German broker to my US broker they were not able to transfer the acquisition prices. So I don’t have information on my gains. In case I sell stocks, what are the tax relevant consequences?

[ThomasM125]

If you don't enter the cost of the investments when you sell them, you will pay tax on the full sale proceeds. It is not necessary for the cost to be stated on the Form 1099-B reporting the sale for you to be able to enter it, however. You will simply need to do some research to determine what the cost of the shares was and you can  enter that cost when you report the sale on your tax return. You should keep documentation supporting your calculations in case the IRS should request it.

[RobertB4444]

As far as the IRS is concerned if you can't show documented proof of your basis then the basis is zero.  Before you sell I would try and recover some information from back when you purchased these foreign securities or approach the German company to help you with the information that you need.

@Julian95 

[Julian95]

Is that not super difficult / impossible to do manually even if I have the documentation on when I bought what? Depending on how much I sell, generally the broker sells the latest purchased stocks first, so I most likely have a bunch of purchase prices for specific number of shares and need to calculate all of that on my own? This seems very error prone.

[Julian95]

Thanks, just a follow up question to confirm. If I simply don't sell anything, then I don't have to do all of that is that correct? If I move all of that back to a european broker in a few years and leave the US, then there is no US tax consequences from the whole action, is that correct?

[RobertB4444]

You are correct that calculating the basis on shares that you have purchased can be labor intensive.  I don't blame you for not wanting to mess with it.

And yes - if you don't sell the stocks then you don't have anything to report.

@Julian95