I sold stock this year and I can not find all the purchase statements as they occured over the past 7 years from my payroll. I tried calling the payroll company at that employer, but they do not store that information.

Since I know that purchases were made weekly, can I estimate the cost?

Anyone have experience with this situation?

I had this problem last year. I ended up calling a broker and got the information. Hope that helps you.

Good question. The Internal Revenue Code states that the burden of proving claims made on athe tax return are on the tax payer. So, upon audit, you would need to prove your actual cost basis.

It appears that proving your cost basis is the issue. The best way to prove your cost basis is to look at prior pay stub details. If you did not retain them then the custodian of the account may be able to retrieve them.

I would not "guess" as to your cost basis as you will likely guess wrong. Dont forget to include brkoer fees and to your basis.

If you cannot determine your cost basis then the IRS position is that your cost is ZERO! So, preforms some archeology and recover the relevant data.