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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff James who wrote (16343)	8/26/1998 1:10:00 PM
From: Lynn	Respond to of 77399

Yes indeed. Buying a few more shares so one does not end up with a fraction is a good option for people who plan holding on for the long term anyway. *BUT* somewhere down the line the share or two you pick up now just to avoid paying tax on the fractional share could haunt you. Remember, that share has a different purchase date so down the line, you are stuck computing that one measly share's cost basis separate from the rest (assuming the rest was bought much earlier). Another scenario is to just throw in the towel, if one gets just a bit for the fractional share, and pay tax on the whole amount. I know a number of people who did this way back at the AT&T break-up and also, last year, when NYNEX and Bell Atlantic merged. All these people had been in dividend reinvestment so figuring out things got to be more painful than paying long term capital gain tax on the fraction. They wrote 'cash in lieu' on the line instead of purchase price. The IRS does not mind this because they are actually making a few cents or dollars for people who pay on the entire fractional distribution. Lynn