If you read through CCH's briefing to the end, you'll find the following tidbit:
"Reporting by brokers has been expanded. Brokers must report the adjusted basis of publicly-traded securities when reporting sales transactions and indicate whether gain is long-term or short-term. Securities subject to the new reporting requirement include stocks, bonds, debentures, commodities, derivatives, and other financial instruments designated by Treasury. Reporting will take effect for stock acquired in 2011, mutual funds acquired in 2012, and other securities acquired in 2013. The provision is estimated to raise $6.7 billion over 10 years.
Comment. Brokers will use the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method or the average cost method to determine basis, unless the taxpayer provides specifi c identifi cation of the securities being sold."
So, options traders are now going to have to be honest :), and this'll save preparers lots of hair-pulling. It'll be nice to (usually) be able to just have the numbers. Though of course we'll first have the problem of helping people with long-time holdings who have no idea of what their basis is calculate it so they can give it to the brokers when the broker asks for the basis of securities bought before the broker's basis tracking system came online. I also hope the industry comes up with a way to automatically transfer basis info as part of account transfers.
-- Rich Carreiro snipped-for-privacy@rlcarr.com