Adjusting cost basis

FROM QUICKEN HELP

Choose Investing menu > Security Detail View. From the list on the left, select the security that has the erroneous transaction. In the Transaction History list on the right, double-click the transaction you want to fix. Edit the transaction information in the dialog that appears. Click OK.

This will mess up the cash in the account, which could be adjusted by an offsetting cash transaction.

The real question is why you want to do this in his account. This is done by the person who inherits the securities, as his basis is the value at the time of your dad's death. That person would use the updated basis when the security is sold.

I haven't had to do this, but it sounds like you should set up a new account for your mother in Quicken, and "remove shares" from the old account, and "add shares" into the new account.. Adding shares will allow you to specify a price.

But I'm not sure if this is the correct tax treatment. I th> There is no erroneous transaction. In my mom's account, the fact that my

I do not know if it is the best way or not, but what I did was to do a "remove shares" on the date of death and then do an "add shares" to put them back into the account. Fill in the total cost and date for the new basis when you enter them.

Unfortunatly this shows up as a sale on the Quicken reports and will mess reports and graphs up for a while. If anyone comes up with a better way, I will note with interest.

Make a copy of the file first.

When I had to deal with several years ago, I created a new account in the file copying the account I needed to adjuct. Then I went back to the original purchase entries and entered the new price adjusted for splits. This keeps the long term versus short term holding period correct. When you "step up basis" you keep the original owners holding period. Example Stock A 2000 shares current priced $20 was original bought as 400 shares, assumes some sort of compounded splitting, so put a price of $4.

I now hide the account with the original uncorrected price.

BTW - check with your tax adviser, My mother died on a weekend and I was told to use the average of the high and low for Friday and Monday. Even if the death was on a trading day, you may be told to use the average of the HIGH and LOW and NOT the closing price.

FYI, if you sell property that you obtained by inheritance, the gain is considered to be long-term no matter how long you or the decedent held the property.

On Schedule D you would list the acquisition date as "Inherited" and list the actual sell date.

Steve