Why can’t I see the cost basis for my shares?

You may sometimes see that there’s no cost basis given for your shares, either in your online account dashboard or on your Consolidated Form 1099. In your online account, you may see “Cost basis unavailable” under certain holdings in your portfolio. On your Form 1099, a given transaction may have $0 or “N/A” reported for “Cost or Other Basis” or “Date Acquired.”

There are two primary reasons for a missing cost basis:

• Account transfers of noncovered securities. If you previously transferred securities from another broker, that broker may not have provided cost basis information to Wealthfront, especially if those securities were noncovered. If this information is missing when Wealthfront receives your securities, we make every effort to obtain it from your former broker, but our requests are not always successful. Wealthfront cannot display an accurate cost basis on your Form 1099 if we do not receive the cost basis from the firm you transferred your account from.

If we’re unable to provide the cost basis information, you can refer to the original brokerage statement detailing the purchase of that security. Alternatively, you can contact your former broker to determine the date acquired and cost basis (what you paid for the security) and enter it manually into your tax preparation software or onto your Form 8949. 

• Corporate actions. If a stock you held was part of a corporate action such as a merger, acquisition, or divestiture during the year, or if your shares were recently split, there may be a delay in displaying the cost basis in your online account. On your Form 1099, the cost basis is typically updated for all positions that have gone through a corporate action in that tax year.

If you need assistance with missing cost basis, please contact Client Services.