Covered Calls

[Les]

On 12/11/2013 09:36 AM, John Ralls wrote:
> On Dec 11, 2013, at 6:39 AM, Les <lelliott5 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know how to handle the sale of covered calls that expire
>> without being exercised in GC? I am wondering if there is a transaction
>> needed to close out the expired call. 
> Of course you have to close out the expired call. Its value goes to zero, and you need to book the loss. IIRC it goes to short-term cap gains, but it's been a few years since I did covered calls and I don't remember all of the wrinkles.
>
> Regards,
> John Ralls
>
There is no loss.  I received cash when I sold the covered call (sell to
open).  Since nobody exercised the call, it expired.  I kept the cash I
received at time of sale.  I guess I didn't make it clear in my original
post that it was "sell to open".  So, how do you close an expired option
that has zero value?  (Buy to close?)

Thanks,
Les