Myron
I recently sold shares of AT&T and spinoff WBD. I have no idea when I aquired shares, share price, what the purchase price was, or how I aquired them. How would the IRS know when, how, or where? I might have owned shares before divestiture, or after the split. Computershare can only provide records from when I started with them in a direct re-investment plan.
Answers
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Hi Myron, thanks for your question.
The IRS receives reports of dividends, stock sales, and interest accumulated throughout the year for everyone, and is able to check financial records from individuals as well as companies. All tax returns can be audited to check for accuracy or discrepancies, and corroborated with external records such as the source of your shares.
If you don't know the dates and amounts relevant to those sales, use caution with filing. It's best to file as truthfully and accurately as possible, and the IRS can verify whether the information is wrong and take steps to rectify that. To see what the IRS has recorded for you, use the Get Transcript tool to request a Wage and Income transcript, which will show all income that has been reported to the IRS.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript
