Q: How do I report tax gains when a stock split four times?
A: Investors have their favorite parts of investing. Some like researching stocks to buy. Others like playing with online trading tools. But figuring out investment capital gains is not on top of many investors' lists.
Luckily, though, figuring out capital gains isn't nearly as difficult as it was. Before getting into the nitty-gritty of measuring your capital gains, first check with your broker. Unless you bought the stock many years ago, your broker will likely tell you what your cost and proceeds from the sale were, and when you bought and sold. That's all you need to fill out your taxes even if the stock split several times.
If you bought the shares many years ago, prior to 2011 in most case, the brokerage will give you the date you sold, the number of shares you sold and the proceeds from the sale. It's up to you to track your cost.
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The easiest way to measure this is by multiplying the number of shares you just sold by the split adjusted per-share stock price on the date you bought the shares, plus any commission you paid.
You can get split adjusted stock prices from many financial Web sites or on most broker's Web sites. If you need help, tax preparation software like TurboTax Premier can do the calculations for you.
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