Hi, Harley.
How about a little bit of good news to partly offset the bad?
Tax rules treat worthlessness of a stock as the sale of that stock for zero. So report those shares as having been sold on the last day of the year in which they became worthless. That should generate a capital loss, which is deductible - within limits - on your income tax return for that year. A quick Live Search for "loss +worthless +tax" turned up a lot of hits; here's the first one: Claiming a Loss for Worthless Securities
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For the official explanation, see this page from IRS Publication 17 online:
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Note a few technicalities here. The loss is only for the year when the shares become worthless. NOT just worth less than before , but completely worthless. Worth zero! You can't deduct it in any earlier or later year, so you must determine the year in which it went from worth something at year-end to the year in which it was worth nothing at year-end. Since it is often difficult to pin down the exact year of worthlessness, the tax code allows a 7-year carryback window in which to claim the loss. (Tax planners used to say to claim the loss in the earliest possible year and, if the IRS disallows that, then claim it again for the next year - and the next - until it is allowed. I'm not sure if that is still good advice.)
The limits that I mentioned are the usual limits on capital losses: generally deductible in full against capital gains in the same year, with any excess loss deductible (within limits) from ordinary income, and with carryovers allowed to future years - again within limits.
Some friendly stockbroker might pay you $1 for all your shares. That would establish the date and amount of the loss, avoiding the difficulty of pinning down the year of worthlessness. Also, as explained in Pub. 17, the tax code lets you abandon shares after March 12, 2008; this provision is new and I have no experience with it. See Pub. 17 for rules on how to "abandon" the stock.
For Quicken, once the facts have been established, the procedure is easy: Record the sale of the shares for zero on the last day of the year of worthlessness. That will get them out of your Quicken portfolio and record your loss on disposition.
Remember that I've been retired for nearly two decades and tax laws change often, so be sure to check with your stockbroker and your own CPA for the current rules - and to verify the year of worthlessness.
RC