Dividend History

[LawrenceGR]

Good News

I just got off the phone with investors services and lo and behold the history will be in the mail tomorrow. Thanks to all for your help.

[FEDUKE404]

Computershare problems

If the original purchase was in certificate form, consider contacting the transfer agent for the company. They will likely have a transaction history for all reinvestments going back for a significant period of time. Do a google search for "Transfer Agent" and the company name and it'll probably pop up. Computershare is a major provider of the service.

You are quite correct on the Computershare issue, as they are the enormous whale that has now devoured the smaller guppies that once served as transfer agents. Within the past couple of years I have noted numerous Form 1099-DIVs et al coming from C'share, whereas previously those documents originated elsewhere.

The problem, as you may surmise, is that when you call C'share they basically will say (on a bad day) "Not our problem!" or (on a rare good day, still after lots of elevator music) "Sorry, the records you need were managed by a prior transfer agent and we cannot access that information."

It is truly frustrating, especially to the client who has lost the cost basis records.

FE

[Roberts]

transfer agent

If the original purchase was in certificate form, consider contacting the transfer agent for the company. They will likely have a transaction history for all reinvestments going back for a significant period of time. Do a google search for "Transfer Agent" and the company name and it'll probably pop up. Computershare is a major provider of the service.

Many brokerage firms purposefully destroy all old financial records NASD time restraints allow them. I was told by a NASD auditor once that companies like Merrill Lynch will destroy records (when it becomes legal) to eliminate potential liability risks.

[JON]

Original purchase

will give you date of purchase. Use "Big Charts" to price those and get dividend reinvestments for the rest from the company. We hope.

[Lion]

You'll have gaps

You'll have gaps with so many mergers and acquisitions and computer system updates. My son's brokerage had info back a few years after they updated computers, but I had those tax returns with his dividend info anyway. Just get the starting info and as many years as they have and keep it simple in calculating the missing amounts. Good luck

[LawrenceGR]

Not Exactly

I got the info from the broker saying they did the best they could but they could only find the original certificates. So it looks like, back to the drawing board.

[FEDUKE404]

Count your blessings!

I talked to the broker this morning (They owe me a 1099) the person there said they would send it as soon as they figure out the basis. Yippie!!!

You must have a magical broker. I've never seen a cost basis on a Form 1099-B.

FE

[LawrenceGR]

Update

I talked to the broker this morning (They owe me a 1099) the person there said they would send it as soon as they figure out the basis. Yippie!!!

[ecb34691]

Also try bigcharts.com as they have historical info

[JON]

Drips

are usual handled by the companies transfer agent, and customer relations will usually provide a transcript of the activity. Some times there is a limit to when it started, but that would be the best place for you to start.

[Lion]

Historical Prices

I had to recreate my son's Fidelity Magellan history after a divorce when he started spending his shares on college. Found out Fidelity had to keep original investment info, and I had the tax returns since the divorce. For the missing years, I knew how many shares he needed to buy with the reinvested dividends to get up to the latter years that I had. So, got info for each 30 November since major dividends had been in November with minor ones in May. (Well, maybe I used a different date, but I used whatever made sense to me at the time.) Working with only once/year made it fall into place pretty quickly. At least, there were less than 18 years to compute!

[FEDUKE404]

Some explanation here

Getting the historical stock price is a relatively easy chore, although in past eons I do remember going to my public library and rolling through some microfilm copies of old WSJs.

Today you can get numbers from Yahoo, in many cases the company's IR department, and from many more sources. That information will suffice for the "I lost my records and can't remember what I paid for it" situations.

The rub comes with DRIP programs, company internal stock programs with reinvested dividends, "Granny died and left me the stock and I've reinvested the dividends since 1972," and the like. IF you have the time, and the client wants to pay the fees, you can theoretically get fairly close by calculating what those quarterly/monthly reinvested shares "might" have cost. But if there has been activity, company reorganizations, or similar it is a real mess.

While the idea of "giving away the stuff and take the donation" is viable, that's not too smart for a stock that has declined in value, nor for someone with a large holding in a company.

I tell my clients let's just do the best we can, knowing the IRS in reality probably would do even a poorer job at reaching the correct cost basis.

One other thing: I purposely AVOID calling stockbrokers (even my own!) for this type of information. Such calls from me are very few, and my "sources" know that, so I do get attention from the correct person the few times I do call, usually on a far more complicated stock issue other than mere "price." It is true that computerized investor accounts now track very well the cost basis, but they can only work with the information they have. (The operative phrase is GIGO.) For "old" shares previously certificated to the client, or funds transferred to them from another firm, the current investment firm is necessarily clueless.

FE

[fliszt]

A few years

ago I ran into the same situation. I called the public library, business section, and asked for help in establishing a basis for stock purchased some 15 years ago. The library attendent looked up all the info and called me back with the opening, noon, and closing values of the stock which I think I can remember it being Northwestern Bank.
Anyway, the Minneapolis Public Library was a huge help to me.

[Davc]

For Google I use "[Company] Investor Information".

[LawrenceGR]

Thanks

for the input. I just spoke to the Edward Jones office that sold the stock. It seems they failed to issue a 1099B, so maybe when they call me back I could request they also provide me a cost basis.