Stock Sale
Hello Terry, I received 9 shares of Exxon Stock worth $500.00 from my employer PAYSOP in the early 90’s. It is worth about $11k now! I’m thinking of selling it. What do I need to know, what should I ask my tax guy? Is this Capital Gains? Never did this before and need guidance. Thanks much. I enjoy listening to you on the business lunch with John.
Terry Says
If you have the actual stock certificate, there should be a date on it. You can use that date as the “cost basis” for your shares, if you don’t have any other purchase records.
You need to find the price the stock was trading at on that date. To do that, go to CNBC.com and search the name of the stock. Then click on the chart and make sure you click “all” dates. Slide the cursor back to that date and you will get the rough price of the stock to use for your cost. Tip: take a screen shot of that graphic.
I did that for you, and found this price for XON on 12/1/98:
https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/XONA-DE?qsearchterm=xon
And because you have held the shares so long, you will pay a long-term capital gains tax on the difference between cost and sales price. Consult your accountant about the actual amount of the tax, which depends on your other income.
