Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Stock Market and Investing Selling at a loss to offset gains for tax purposes

At the end of this year I’m going two sell the majority of 2 different mutual funds, Their both dogs and its time to cut losses and move on,


Earlier this year I withdrew some money from a different mutual fund,

So to offset those ‘profits’ I’m looking for the steps and a way to calculate the sale at a loss, to offset the withdrawal earlier this year.

There is nothing here that would be considered short term or a Wash.

Lets start with that,

TIA.

Realized losses offset gains 1 to 1. Losses can be carried forward and used to offset gain in the future. They can also be used to reduce taxable income up to $3000 per year indefinitely

Thanks, appreciate your time, Your statement above contradicts what I was previously told by some one in this field,

Understand, I’m by no means questioning or second guessing you,

In fact, I’m interested in your other statement regarding off-setting taxable income,

Would you suggest I take this matter up with my tax preparer?

Actually you may have just simply explained this to me in a much simpler way than the previous person, Thanks.

He is correct. In the end they offset each other on a one to one basis. You are supposed to match long term gains against long term losses and short term gains against short term losses. Anything remaining will offset each other. There are few circumstances where it matters to do it that way, but in general you can throw them all together and see what you have left over after all the offsetting.

And as he said excess losses will carry forward until utilized or death (whichever one comes first). Any excess losses can be used against ordinary income up to $3,000 per year. Wish they would raise that. None of this applies in a retirement account though (not that you asked).

All true. I sold WPC for a $1,000 loss , however I did not loose much . If you buy $10,000 of WPC and it goes down 10%, your cost basis is $10,000 . If you sell it you get $1,000 in tax loss harvest. However, I got $800 in dividends so in reality , I lost $200 in total.. I did pay taxes on the divies though cause REITS have a high tax and it was in a taxable.. I just flipped the money into another REIT that I now prefer anyway. Yes I know REITS shouldnot be in taxables. You can actually still make money on a loss . Here is how.. I pay very little or nothing on dividends that are qualified. If the dividends are more than the loss, I can still sell for a tax loss harvest and take the loss off my taxes.. I am NOT sure it works like that but I think it does.