In misc.taxes.moderated, David Zelinsky wrote:

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It depends. You can avoid much of the effort by using a personal
money management program (Microsoft Money, Intuit's Quicken, etc).
They will maintain lot information for you.

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"David Zelinsky" <dzpost[at]dedekind.net> wrote in message
news:8763ud95ep.fsf[at]localhost.localdomain...
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No, the "annoying" way is correct.

- quote -

Yes.

Ira Smilovitz

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This isn't exactly a tax question, except that it relates to computing
tax basis on shares of a stock.

Suppose I have two or more lots of the same stock, bought at different
times and prices. As a result of a merger, I may end up with
fractional shares, which are automatically sold off. However, my
broker only sees the total number of shares, and the resulting
fraction might not divide up evenly among the lots.

For example, suppose I have lots of 10 shares and 100 shares. After a
3 to 1 merger, I end up with 3 1/3 and 33 1/3 shares. But the broker
sees 110 shares, converted to 36 2/3 shares, and sells of 2/3 share,
leaving me with 36 shares. How do I divide that among the two lots?

If I'm not mistaken, the rule when shares are sold is that the oldest
shares are sold first. Then assuming the lot of 10 shares was the
oldest, I would attribute the 2/3 share to that lot, which would end
up with 2 2/3 and 33 1/3 shares in the two lots. That adds up to 36,
but it's annoying to have to carry around those fractional shares in
my records from now on. Is there any way to avoid this? Can I
apportion the 2/3 share sale as I like, in order to make the lots come
out whole numbers?

Or, suppose I had 10 shares and 20 shares. Then a 3 to 1 merger would
leave me with an even 10 shares total, so there would be no fractional
sale. But my lots woult be 3 1/3 and 6 2/3 shares. Am I stuck with
that?

None of this is a big deal. It's just annoying.

-David

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<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >