Seth Breidbart wrote:
- quote -

Aside: If your broker charges you for unfilled orders, you
need to find a different broker.

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D. Stussy <kd6lvw[at]kd6lvw.ampr.org> wrote:

- quote -

That needn't always be the case. For instance, I have 1000
shares. I put in a limit sell order at $20; it doesn't
fill, the stock is trading around $19.90, so I
cancel/replace it with an order to sell at $19.90, which
fills. I'd claim that the fee for doing the cancel/replace
is part of the cost of selling.

Seth

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D. Stussy wrote:
- quote -

There are other costs which can be capitalized.

However, it should also be pointed out that it would cost
more than 95 cents worth of the accountant's time to process
the non-transaction.

It also occurs to me to question how a limit order differs
from an option grant, with the cancellation fee being a
contracted "buy-back" fee. This probably wouldn't hold up
with the IRS, but the underlying law for non-traded options
is unclear to me. If that interpretation were to hold up,
then the cancellation fees for a buy order would be
deductible as short term capital losses, and the
cancellation fees for a sell order would be "capitalized"
under the wash sale rules.

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Arthur L. Rubin wrote:
- quote -

Note that for fees attached to a cancelled SELL order, is is
NEITHER a cost of acquisition nor cost of sale, so on what
grounds would it be capitalizable into that lot (or those
lots) of stock?

I agree with the answer that it is a 2%-AGI-floored misc.
itemized deduction - just as the annual account fee would
be, since it's not matchable to a specific transaction.

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- quote -

If there's a limit order to buy that gets cancelled, what
would it be added to the basis _of_?

Seth

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- quote -

Do costs of executing a buy or sell also come under the same
rule? If not, why wouldn't the cost for cancelling a limit
order be the same, and get added to basis?

Stu

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David Kilo wrote:

- quote -

It seems to me the cancellation of a limit sell order should
add to the basis of the underlying stock. Cancellation of a
limit purchase order is a miscellaneous investment expense,
and reported as noted by "Don Priebe".

But I could be wrong, and, even if I'm not, and you don't
contract to sell ALL of your stock, the 95 cents has to be
allocated to only the basis of the stock you would have
sold.

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- quote -

Sure. As investment expenses under miscellaneous deductions
subject to the 2% of AGI.

--
Don EA in Upstate NY

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My broker, Interactive Broker, nicks me 95 cents or so
everytime I cancel a limit order, a for a few other types of
order cancellations. Can I deduct these annoyances?

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