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Strategies & Market Trends : Income Taxes and Record Keeping ( tax ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cents who wrote (1496)	11/18/1998 10:48:00 AM
From: Colin Cody	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 5810

All things being equal, taking dead stock losses EARLIER is generally better than taking than later. It is also generally a good policy to not pay taxes on gains today and expect to get a decrease in taxes down the road. The opposite is true. Don't pay a tax today that you can put off until tomorrow. Colin

To: Cents who wrote (1496)	11/19/1998 8:02:00 AM
From: Kaye Thomas	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 5810

A few quick points about short-term losses. First, if you hold them long enough, they'll turn into long-term losses, which often provide less tax advantage. Second, you get maximum advantage if you use them against ordinary income or short-term gains; less advantage if you use them against long-term gains. Third, when you have a small (under $3,000) loss, there's no reason to take a gain to offset it, because you can use that much loss against your ordinary income. Note that in your situation there may be some question as to whether the loss can be held until next year due to worthlessness of the stock. When stock becomes worthless, you must take the loss in that year even if you don't do anything with it until the next year. Kaye Thomas, author Fairmark Press Tax Guide for Investors fairmark.com