Understanding Wash Sales: IRS Rules and Implications

A wash sale is categorized when an investor sells a stockStockWhat is a stock? An individual who owns stock in a company is called a shareholder and is eligible to claim part of the company’s residual assets and earnings (should the company ever be dissolved). The terms "stock", "shares", and "equity" are used interchangeably. or security and repurchases the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days of the sale. The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS)How to Use the IRS.gov WebsiteIRS.gov is the official website of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States’ tax collection agency. The website is used by businesses and introduced the 61-day wash sale rule to prevent investors who hold unrealized losses from benefiting from a tax deduction.

In a wash sale, the investor repurchases the security within 30 days with the hope of regaining the value of the security. The 61-day wash sale rule comprises 30 days before and after the date of sale.

Wash Sale Rule Explained

A wash sale comprises two transactions, i.e., the sale of a security at a loss and the repurchase of the security within 30 days. The purchase may include any of the following options:

• Purchase of another substantially identical security for an individual retirement account
• Purchase of the same or a substantially identical security
• Purchase of an option or contract to buy a substantially identical security
• Purchase of a substantially identical security in a fully taxable transaction

If an investor purchases the same or a substantially identical security within the 61-day time frame, the IRS effectively ignores the transaction, and the amount of loss is added to the cost of the replacement security. It defers the loss until a future time when the replacement security is sold. The 61-day holding period also applies to the replacement security. The “substantially identical security” is also referred to as the “replacement security” for the original security.

What Constitutes a Wash Sale

There several things that the IRS considers when deciding whether a certain transaction qualifies as a wash sale transaction. First, securities in different classes are not considered substantially identical to each other. For example, bonds and preferred stockPreferred SharesPreferred shares (preferred stock, preference shares) are the class of stock ownership in a corporation that has a priority claim on the company’s assets over common stock shares. The shares are more senior than common stock but are more junior relative to debt, such as bonds. are considered to be different from common stock. The only exception to this provision is when preferred stock can be converted to common stock without any restriction.

With these provisions, investors can use certain methods to keep trading until the wash sale period has lapsed. One way that investors can achieve this is to sell one security at a loss and buy a different security in the same industry. They can then wait until the 61-day period has expired and repurchase the original security.

For example, an investor can sell 1,000 stocks of ABC Company, a manufacturing company, at a loss. They can use the funds to buy a mutual fund in the manufacturing sector during the wash sale period. After the period has expired, the investor can sell the mutual fund shares and repurchase the stock of ABC Company. Repurchasing ABC’s shares after the wash sale period allows the investor to claim losses and realize tax deductions.

Practical Example: Wash Sale

Assume that Jay purchased 100 shares of ABC Company for $30 per share and sold them for $27 per share on July 20. He then repurchased the shares on August 10 when the shares were trading at $33 per share. Since the transaction occurred within the 30-day wash sale period, the $300 loss is a wash sale and would be disallowed by the IRS.

The adjusted basis for the replacement shares is $3,600, which is the addition of the $3,300 ($33 x 100) and the $300 loss that was disallowed. Therefore, taxes on any future sale will be figured as though Jay had retained the original shares.

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Same Stocks vs. or Substantially Identical Stocks

When determining the transactions that are counted as wash sales, the IRS uses the terms “same stocks” or “substantially identical stocks” to determine if investors are claiming artificial losses. Two securities are identified as the same if they are exactly identical or if they share most of their characteristics.

A company’s bonds and preferred stock are considered different from the same company’s common stock. Also, the securities of one company, e.g., ABC Company, are not identical to the stocks of another company, e.g., XYZ Company.

Additional Resources

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