Commission split buying stocks?

[David Harrison]

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 19:04:52 -0400, Dave Reed <drlinux at columbus.rr.com> wrote:

> I'm in the U.S. The schedule D form does not have a place for entering
> the commission - just the net basis and net sale.
> 
> I agree that it really doesn't matter as long as you end up with the
> correct answer. I'm just surprised by the suggestion to use the
> Expense:Commissions account also since it appears to me to make it
> more difficult to get the gain/loss correct for your taxes. If you did
> that for both sales and purchases, you couldn't just look at your
> commission expense account and get the correct amount for that year
> (since some of the commissions might be the basis for stocks you
> bought this year but did not sell yet).

That's why on the purchase, I included the commissions in the purchase
price of the stock.  It's not as critical on the sale as you are
reporting them that year anyway.  Personally, I would use my second
example on the sale as that would  match the tax return more closely.

I think the most critical part of posting the sale is ensuring that
the original purchase amount is taken off the books (plus any
non-realized gains/losses, if you are recording those).  Once that
part is done, the rest flows from there.

Dave