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Adjust the number of shares in lots

Joey

I have several lots that make up the total number of stock in one of my accounts. The total number of shares in the account is correct but the number of shares in each lot is not. What's the right/best/correct way to adjust the number of shares an a given lot?

What I've tried: I know that I can enter a "Remove shares" transaction and specify the lot(s) the shares should could out of. However, I can't do the opposite, that is, enter an "Add shares" transaction to add to a specific lot.

So what's the correct way to get the share could correct for each lot?

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Accepted answers

K.O. (Win-Premier)

The "best" way which I'm defining as most accurate way is to go back and delete all closing transactions then re-enter them specifying the correct lots. I don't know of any way to adjust the lots on closing transactions after the fact.

All comments

K.O. (Win-Premier)

Joey

Okay, thanks for the quick reply.

Rocket J Squirrel

@K.O. (Win-Premier) , you have succeeded in confusing me. Delete "closing" transactions and re-enter? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the number of shares in a lot are set in "opening" transactions, i.e., Buy, ReinvDiv, Add Shares, etc. Those transactions can be edited after the fact to change the number of shares.

Maybe the deeper question is why the lots have incorrect share counts in the first place. That shouldn't happen.

NotACPA

@Rocket J Squirrel YES, the initial number of shares in a lot is determined by the purchase ... but if the OP has sold shares of the holding, and the lots that were recorded in Q, for the sale, don't match the lots that were selected by the broker, a discrepancy in LOT holding can arise ... which is what KO is addressing.

K.O. (Win-Premier)

@Rocket J Squirrel ... Yes, the lots are based on the opening transaction but it's when you close a transaction is when you identify which lots you wish to close that then determines profitability based on the close price vs. the opening price on the lot selected. And the closing transaction determines if there are shares left in the opening lot available for the next transaction.

When you open a transaction this sets the lot but it can't be wrong unless the transaction (price or qty) is wrong. So as long as the price and qty are correct for the opening transaction the lot cannot be wrong. What can be wrong is when you close a transaction you select a different lot than your broker selected and thus your gains/losses are incorrect when compared to the broker's statement which is God when it comes to taxes.

Rocket J Squirrel

@Joey said nothing about disposing of any shares. He just said lots had the wrong number of shares.

NotACPA

Rocket J Squirrel said:

@Joey said nothing about disposing of any shares. He just said lots had the wrong number of shares.

If joey didn't dispose of shares, then the only other option was that the initial purchases were recorded incorrectly.

I consider the "sold" option to be MUCH more likely.

If not specifically designated on the sale order, most brokerages will use FIFO ... but joey could well have selected Max, or Min gain ... which would result in joey's situation.

Rocket J Squirrel

I think we'll never know until @Joey comes back to give us more information about his issue.

Tom Young

If the point of the exercise is simply to get the lots in order and not try to go back and fix all of the transactions that got you into the situation in the first place, then a simple Remove of all shares, followed by a sequence of Adds with the correct number of shares, correct basis and correct date acquired would probably be the easiest approach.

Joey

Thanks everyone for the lively discussion. Your ideas and comments have been been very helpful. Regarding the discussion about *how* the lots got out of balance, it happened when shares were removed through sales. Turns out the brokerage reports lots on its website rounded to three decimal places even though they actually have four decimals and are traded with four decimals. I simply wasn't playing close enough attention as the sales transacted, and now I'm out of balance on a few lots at the fractional share level.