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Welcome to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services' Cost Basis Reporting Resource Center—your source for essential cost basis reporting law compliance information.

Cost basis reporting is law. Are you ready to meet the higher corporate action tax reporting requirements?

With the cost basis reporting law in effect since January 1, 2011, it is critical that brokers, return preparers, tax advisors and taxpayers be in compliance. Further, it is essential that impacted financial services professionals fully understand the resulting higher corporate action tax reporting standards – including the need to account for foreign events and new IRS Form 8937 information to avoid significant penalty fees. Click here to download our whitepaper detailing these new corporate action compliance complexities.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has been a leader educating the industry about this law and about the technology and information complexities that need to be addressed to meet its requirements. Additionally, we offer both the tax intelligence expertise and the technology to help you comply.

What You Can Find on the Cost Basis Reporting Resource Center

Know the law - Read the law, the final regulations, public comments to the IRS whitepapers and other important documents relating to the cost basis reporting law.

Stay current - Access recent pertinent industry articles and webinar content.

According to Celent, "Due to the complexities related to cost basis reporting, firms are tasked with the daunting responsibility of implementing a sophisticated system to meet these new requirements. Although many organizations have some type of cost basis system in place, the new law creates additional complexities in terms of the following: wash sales, transfer of cost basis when a client switches brokerage firms, and allocation and identification of tax lots and sub-lots."

Additionally, systems need the ability to handle all tax lot relief methods allowed by the IRS (FIFO and specific identification plus single-category and double-category averaging for mutual funds and dividend reinvestment plans – DRIP) for determining the basis of securities sold.

²Celent, Why C-Level Executives Should Be Concerned About the New Cost Basis Reporting Rules by David Easthope, Celent, September 2009.

There is a significant tax penalty risk if the basis and holding period information reported on Form1099-B is incorrect. There are separate penalties for 1099s provided to the IRS and 1099s provided to taxpayers, and they aggregate to $100 per incorrect 1099 (with an annual maximum of $350,000 per year before interest). If the error is due to intentional disregard, the combined penalties are 10 percent of the amount that should have been reported (without any maximum limit).

On Friday, October 3rd, 2008, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 into law (the Act, Pub. L. No. 110-343). The law requires cost basis reporting by brokers to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to taxpayers. The initial effective date for cost basis reporting for most stocks applies to stock acquired on or after January 1, 2011; for mutual funds and dividend reinvestment plan stock (or similar arrangements) acquired on or after January 1, 2012; and for debt instruments, options and other covered securities acquired on or after January 1, 2013. The provision is scored to raise $6.67 billion over a ten year period. To review the law, click here and go to Title IV, Section 403.

Click here to read about key compliance challenges.

Click here to request a Cost Basis Reporting Law Readiness Check List.

Click here to request the Celent Report, Why C-Level Executives Should Be Concerned About the New Cost Basis Reporting Rules by David Easthope, Celent, September 2009.

Fund Whitepaper 8937 Webinar

 

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Cost Basis
Commentary

New Cost Basis Reporting Challenge for Hedge Funds, Partnerships and Corporations: IRS Form 8949 & New Form 1065 Schedule D

On December 31, 2012, the IRS released Schedule D for reporting capital gains and losses for calendar year 2012 by partnerships filing federal income tax returns on Form 1065 (2012 Partnership Schedule D). Significantly, the 2012 Partnership Schedule D adopts the format first used for calendar 2011 for individuals filing IRS Form 1040 in that such Schedule D no longer reports the details for capital gains and losses but instead merely summarizes and references IRS Form 8949 for reporting capital gain and loss details.

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What's New

IRS releases final regulations for cost basis reporting phase 3 coverage of debt instruments and options. Read the regs.

IRS Issues Final Form 8937 and Related Notice 2012-11 on January 13, 2012

Proposed Cost Basis Reporting Regs for Options & Debt Released - IRS REG-102988-11 (Nov. 23, 2011)

IRS issues Notice 2011-56 on issues relating to the basis of stock

IRS Issues New 1099-B Form & Instructions

Understanding the final cost basis regulations

IRS Issues Final Cost Basis Regs


 

Download the Final Cost Basis Regs

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