On more than one occasion, the boom in technology stocks has been likened to 17th century tulip mania. The form has four parts and is 54 lines long. If Dante had a 10th circle of hell, it would have looked like this.
Good records are crucial.
Tax preparers say many people believe all they need is the Form 1099-B provided by their broker. But that just shows when you sold your securities, and for how much. It doesn't say when you bought the securities and how much you paid - key to determining how much tax you owe. You need the confirmation slip you received from your broker when you bought the shares, says John Roth at CCH, the tax information publisher. The client, who bought the shares five years earlier, said he couldn't find the confirmation slip.