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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (415031)	6/15/2003 9:53:23 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

I don't make the idiot laws, BUT ..... Once you've the lottery, there is no risk of capital loss by waiting (unless you wait past the time period in which you must claim winnings or lose them). Holding a stock is different; as long as you hold it, there is risk of loss. Also, the only reason for not claiming the winnings is avoidance of taxes. IRS generally will not go along with schemes whose purpose is that. This situation is actually rational compared to the employee stock option situation. In that case, your taxable gain is based on the stock price ON THE DAY YOU EXERCISE THE OPTION, not the price you actually get when you sell. If you exercise the option and hold and the stock drops like a rock (and this has happened to many people here in Silicon Valley), you can end up owing tax on millions of $$$$ you never received. People have literally been bankrupted by this stupidity of tax law.