RSU Cost Basis showing up as 0 on 8949

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
April 4, 2019
2 replies
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I know the RSU question gets answered a lot, especially by TomYoung, but one thing I'm still confused by:

I followed the "I sold RSUs" workflow and input all the necessary data, which I have and is accurate. (# of shares that vested, price at vest date, number of shares withheld for taxes, number of shares sold, sale price) . On form 8949 for those RSU sales the cost basis on column e is 0. Schwab DOES report a cost basis, and it's not zero.

I'm focusing on this because I'm also having my taxes done by a CPA this year and he came up with different numbers just using the 1099-B from Schwab and it's leading to TT showing me owing less taxes than the CPA does. I think it's due to how he's computing the cost basis (using the Schwab value) and I need to understand which is correct, because saying "Well, this is how TT does it" is likely to go poorly.

P

PaulaM

Employee

Your cost basis is the fair market value on the vesting date. And yes, TomYoung does a great job answering RSU questions. See if this one can help your situation.

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N

NCPERSON1

the PER SHARE cost basis is the same as the stock price was on the date the restrictions were lifted!

Go to you W-2 (and hopefully you received a pay stub solely for the taxes the week the restriction lifted). What was the price of the stock used to complete the W-2 INCOME you received upon restriction lift. That price is the cost basis for whenever you actually sell the shares you received.

Let's say you had 1,000 RSUs and the INCOME declared on the W-2 (and paystub) was $25,000. That would mean the PER SHARE price was $25 per share and THAT is the cost basis (times the number of shares you were left with, which may be in the 700-800 range because the rest were sold to pay taxes)

So if you sold the shares later on for more than $25 per share, that would be a gain; if you sold the shares later on for less than $25 per share, you'd have a loss.

It's a rather simple calculation so not sure why TT and the CPA would get different answers.