Brian <nospam[at]nospam.net> wrote:

- quote -

FMV is defined as the price a willing seller and willing
buyer transact at. If the stock was trading in the market,
there were lots of willing buyers and sellers, hence the
market price.

If the price *would have been* something else *if* people
had known something, that's just as irrelevant as the fact
that the price *would have been* a lot higher *if* they'd
struck diamonds while digging to bury fiber optic (on their
own land).

Seth

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Brian wrote:

- quote -

Without seeing the opinions in question, it's tough to say.
But I would note that being skeptical probably wasn't a bad
idea. My suspicion is that the high price tag for what
would appear to be an "off the shelf" opinion whose answer
is known before the professional looks at your particular
situation has the earmarks of the heavily promoted tax
shelters that are getting so much bad publicity today.

If it sounds too good to be true it probably is isn't a bad
starting point for evaluating these matters <grin> . Even
better, the high up front cost is at the very least an
indicator that this is perceived to be a "high risk"
strategy. While I'm sure those pushing it would argue
"value billing" to support the concept, that only goes so
far. As well, it's important to note that if you read the
opinion, it won't guarantee the result--rather, it will, at
best, say it's "more likely than not" that the issue would
eventually be upheld if challenged--and even then, may have
caveats that effectively make it inapplicable in your exact
case (there may be assumptions that simply aren't correct in
your exact case).

I would also note that there are now new proposed
regulations that would modify the rules for tax
professionals who issue such opinions.

--
Ed Zollars, CPA
Phoenix, Arizona

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- quote -

Not at all, you done good. In fact, you may want to forward
those letters to the local CPA authority and to the IRS at
opr[at]irs.gov They will both be very interested.

Helen, EA in PA
Member of The Tax Gang
President, PA Society of Enrolled Agents
Campaigning for NAEA Board of Directors - Looking for YOUR vote

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- quote -

I was approached by a promoter of a plan whereby we would
pay a CPA firm and a law firm some largish sums and they
would give us letters basically saying that in their opinion
our losses on WorldCom were fraud losses. I thought the
whole thing was a bit fishy, and wouldn't be worthwhile for
our situation anyway, so I walked.

Also, they were going to eliminate the imputed income from
exercising employee stock options, under the theory that the
fair value of the stock at the time of the exercise was
below the strike price. This had an even stronger piscene
odor, so I ran.

Was I over-reacting?

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- quote -

Agreed, but adding: An equity loss is a capital loss as long
as the equity actually existed. If you bought equity in a
non-existant company, then you could have a fraud loss.

The problem with a fraud loss is that it is subject to a
10% of AGI floor. So you would need a very large loss in
basisto make it practical.

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- quote -

Capital loss and only if you have sold it.

Helen, EA in PA
Member of The Tax Gang
President, PA Society of Enrolled Agents
Campaigning for NAEA Board of Directors - Looking for YOUR vote

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Capital loss or ordinary loss? Has anyone developed an
argument to support the notion that WorldCom losses can
be deducted as fraud losses subject to ordinary loss
treatment?

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"pak" <eckerpw[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Mail all of your WorldCom certificates directly to me,
properly endorsed, with a notarized letter assigning me all
the rights and benefits associated with the stock and I will
mail you a money order for no more than $1.00. I will set
the price of the money order at the time I receive the stock
from you, but will never pay more than $1.00 for all the
stock you send me, no matter how many shares of WorldCom
stock you send me. In other words, if you send me all you
have I will send you $1.00, if you have 10,000 shares I will
still send you only $1.00. This could be better than paying
the trading fees to dump the stock.

If you want to take advantage of this offer, please e-mail
me back channel and I'll send you my address.

Gene E. Utterback, EA

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"pak" <eckerpw[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

I think you and they would have a hard time finding a
willing buyer.

Wayne Brasch, CPA, M. S. Taxation

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pak <eckerpw[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Find a friend willing to buy it and write out a descriptive
bill of sale.

Or find a local broker - preferrably discount broker willing
to sell it for you.

It is pretty much too late for Ameritrade this year. They
would want the stock before accepting a sell order.

Your WCPOQ seems to have a price of 5 cents on it, so it is
not worthless.

--
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

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closing in on end of year, would like to sell the worldcom
stock I have and take the tax writeoff. I hold in Ameritrade
account. I keep asking them if they will sell for me and
they ignore the questions (email). Anyhone know how I can
sell it or where?

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