# Share holding tax implication issue



## scha9799 (26 January 2013)

Hi everyone, 

I am new to the forum. 

I hope someone can kindly help or share some knowledge.

I bought some share via Etrade online broker in 2007. 
I have been holding the same shares till now. I participate the dividend reinvestment plan through all these years.

Recently I change my online broker from Etrade to HSBE. (because the transaction fee is cheaper)

The question here is I didn't record exactly how much and at what price I bought it for back in 2007. and i don't remember all the exact date i bought it on.
If I sale all the share today. How I can report to the ATO for the capital gain/loss ? Is there any way to find the record ? or we can simple estimate the date and price we bought/sold at ??

Thank you in advance

Taylor


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## bellenuit (26 January 2013)

scha9799 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am new to the forum.
> 
> ...




Do you still have access to your E-Trade Account?  Presumably they have history statements that you can access.   For those bought under the DRP, you should have dividend statements that show what you bought and at what price. You must have dividend statements, otherwise how did you report dividends on your tax return (and you must keep tax records for 5 years). If, for some reason, you don't have dividend statements, find out which share registry (the two big ones are Computershare and Link Market Services) handles the shares of the company you bought. You should be able to log on to their site (you will have to register) and get a record of your dividend statements there (using your E-Trade HIN).

You are supposed to keep records of all your share transactions until at least 5 years after the sale, so if you hold a particular share for 6 years and then sell, you will need to keep the purchase details for 11 years. Estimating is not allowed, but if that is the best you can do, then go for it and hope you are not audited by the ATO.


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## scha9799 (26 January 2013)

I don't have access to my Old Etrade account anymore.

is there any way to find out the purchase date and price ?


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## sydboy007 (26 January 2013)

do you have any holding statement from the say computer share or link - they are the 2 main companies that handle  company share registries.

I know with computer share when you set up an account with them you can access all the buy and sell transactions, plus any dividends received and franking credits too.


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## scha9799 (2 February 2013)

sydboy007 said:


> do you have any holding statement from the say computer share or link - they are the 2 main companies that handle  company share registries.
> 
> I know with computer share when you set up an account with them you can access all the buy and sell transactions, plus any dividends received and franking credits too.





thank you for your advice.

I went on to check my holding for RIO at Computereshare registery. 
I can only find the record of my holding position but it doesn't tell me the the price i paid/sold for.

how do i find out the price i paid/sold for during last a few years ?

thank you in advance


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## burglar (2 February 2013)

scha9799 said:


> I don't have access to my Old Etrade account anymore.
> 
> is there any way to find out the purchase date and price ?




Etrade is still around, they must surely have a trading room with an email contact.
Email them explaining you need to find out the purchase date and price!

I can't see them being unhelpful!


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## pixel (2 February 2013)

scha9799 said:


> thank you for your advice.
> 
> I went on to check my holding for RIO at Computereshare registery.
> I can only find the record of my holding position but it doesn't tell me the the price i paid/sold for.
> ...




Depending on your bank, you could try to retrieve the transaction history to look for any RIO records.

PS: It may come too late for your specific problem, but there's a lot to be said for retaining copies of Contract Notes *indefinitely*. Especially in the case of online brokers, I find it essential to maintain and backup annual folders on my computer. 20c a year spent for a CD will save much stress down the track.


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## skc (2 February 2013)

scha9799 said:


> thank you for your advice.
> 
> I went on to check my holding for RIO at Computereshare registery.
> I can only find the record of my holding position but it doesn't tell me the the price i paid/sold for.
> ...




Doesn't the share reg gives you the date of transaction?

With that you can probably use the closing price of that day as your buy price and the ATO would probably be ok with your best effort to establish a cost base.


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## burglar (2 February 2013)

scha9799 said:


> ... Thank you in advance
> 
> Taylor




Did you ask the taxman what he requires?

You can ring him.
Or pop into his office.
You can write him a letter. (Snail mail)
(I suspect you cannot email him.)

I found him to be very helpful in genuine cases.


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## drsmith (3 February 2013)

burglar said:


> Etrade is still around, they must surely have a trading room with an email contact.
> Email them explaining you need to find out the purchase date and price!
> 
> I can't see them being unhelpful!



I would have thought that if he contacted Etrade and provided some identification information (account number, name, address, dob etc), they would be able to help.


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## scha9799 (7 February 2013)

Thank you all for the advice : )


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