Then you compare the results of these two sets of calculations. If your losses exceeded your gains, you owe no capital gains taxes. Usually, investors have to sell a taxable security to claim a loss. Proving an investment is truly worthless can sometimes be tough. Investors must show that a company is truly insolvent and no longer in operation to claim a deduction for a worthless security.
Investors can deduct a valueless security only in the year that it becomes worthless.
The rules on holding periods also are a little different. You will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one.