Worthless Stock

[Kram BergGold]

In a Brokerage account the stock is listed as "market value unavailable", ie. it is no longer trading. I called the brokerage house and was told it will continue to show up this way until there is no longer any chance of recouping any money from shareholder lawsuits or other events. Should the tax loss be claimed in the year it showed up as "market value unavailable" or when the stock is removed from the brokerage statement?

[TAXNJ]

You may already know this but see some of the helpful points in the attached: You may remember some of it from law or tax courses.

http://taxation.lawyers.com/income-tax/tax-deduction-for-worthless-securities.html

[Roland Slugg]

If it is (or was) a publicly traded stock, listed on an exchange, do a Google or other web search and see what you find. As I'm sure you know, the loss on a worthless security can only be deducted in the year it becomes worthless, so it's important to be able to identify that year correctly.

If the stock has been de-listed, due to low value or no value, the owner might want to try to sell it anyway, even for just a few cents. If he does that, it will create a regular loss on the same, not a worthless stock loss. If he wants to do that, I'd advise him to discuss it with his broker.

[Snaggletooth]

No Brainer Solution

As always, the no brainer solution is to sell the stock, take a GUARANTEED loss, and remove the tedious arguments spawned by the original subject.

If the taxpayer is not willing to sell the stock, this casts a question on whether it is really worthless or not.

[Rapid Robert]

As always, the no brainer solution is to sell the stock

The "brainer" part is finding someone to buy it. I think it's going to be more work than just a few clicks on a web page somewhere.