reckoner[at]gmail.com (Jose=A0Reckoner) asked:

- quote -

Here's one website that might be useful in constructing your
cost data:

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/

Bill

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

reckoner[at]gmail.com (Jose=A0Reckoner) asked:

- quote -

Here's one website that might be useful in constructing your
cost data:

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/

Bill

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

Jose Reckoner wrote:

- quote -

Some information is still missing, which you would know.
Were dividends taken out as cash or reinvested? What kind of
fund was it? This is outside my experience, but if I were in
this situation I would find the index that the fund tries to
track, or the closest one I can find. The S&P was around 420
in Jan 92. It's about tripled in that time, assuming you
took the dividends as cash. Given that most funds will not
beat the S&P over long stretches, if you offered to use a
cost of $3300, and paid the capital gain on $6700, I
couldn't imagine an auditor claiming you should pay more.
Although stranger things have happened, I'd think.

I once had a few shares of a stock that came from a spin
off, long ago, and I sold it for $100. I put zero cost and
paid the tax on the $100 as I quickly decided that my time
was more valuable than the $15 I'd throw away doing it that
way. That was 5 years ago, never got a letter asking where
it came from.

JOE

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

I finally sold some mutual fund shares I've had since 1992.
The problem is that the mutual fund company has changed
hands a couple of times and they have not provided any
average cost information in the tax material that they sent
me. Furthermore, they don't have records that go that far
back and neither do I.

So, how can I compute my average cost basis for these
shares? I looked through the IRS web site, but I can't find
any help there. The total distribution from the sale of
approximately $10,000.

Ideas?

Thanks

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >