Unknown cost basis for stocks from old ESPP

[james-d]

I left a company in 2011 where I had stock through an ESPP. I've left it alone just filing the 1099-DIV every year until this year.

The problem:

My old employer was bought/had a merger and the company managing the stock was changed. Somehow through this transition they sold like .75 of my stock and I received a 1099-B because of the transaction. On this statement though there is no cost basis. My old employer doesn't know how to get this information.

The amount that it was sold for was not a lot. I'm in a pretty good financial situation to just eat the cost. Can I just put 0 as the cost basis and be done with it?

[Anonymous]

is that .75 shares or 75% of all the stock.  the IRS can't argue if you use 0 cost. however. if the value added to your w-2 in the year it was taxable, it may be that you are missing out on a substantial capital loss.  your other problem is what are you going to do if the rest of that stock is sold.  the further in the future the harder it will be to come up with a number. depending on the year, there may be info on the w-2. if you don't have it you can get a copy from Social Security Adm for about $65. the IRS probably no longer has a transcript going back father than 2012 

[james-d]

@Anonymous  thanks for the reply.

It was .75 of shares which equates to not a huge amount.

The real headache for this is that it was cumulative, meaning that I only started receiving dividends when I left the company and there's 4 years of them buying more stock with the dividends.