How can I correct the cost basis of an investment into a mutual fund?

dahspur

I have a mutual fund that I purchased on September 9 and again on September 11. On September 11 Fidelity Investments had long term, short term and dividend distributions. My account at Fidelity does not include the value of the distributions in the cost basis, but Quicken does. I would like to make Quicken agree with Fidelity. Is it possible to make changes to the cost basis?

Mark1104

you can do a RTNCAP transaction which will change the cost basis only

however, are you confident the current Quicken transactions are correct to begin with? 

was the distribution reinvested or not? 

dahspur

RTNCAP was suggested by another member and it solved my problem.

Mark1104

you can do a RTNCAP transaction which will change the cost basis only

however, are you confident the current Quicken transactions are correct to begin with? 

was the distribution reinvested or not? 

Jim_Harman

Were the distributions reinvested in the fund, or were they received in cash?

Did you download the distribution transactions from Fidelity or did you enter them manually?

dahspur

The distributions were reinvested in the same fund.
All of the transactions were downloaded from Fidelity during the One-step Update.
In my Fidelity account the distributions show zero for the cost basis.

dahspur

RTNCAP was suggested by another member and it solved my problem.

q_lurker

Is this a retirement account?

If so, I believe there is 'disagreement' between Fidelity and Quicken on meaning or significance of Cost Basis.  To wit, as I recall, Fidelity does not as a matter of choice increase the overall cost basis after reinvestments within a retirement account, whereas Quicken treats all reinvestments as cost basis events without regard to type of account.  In the end, with respect to taxes and taxable income, both end up at the same place.

IMO, Quicken's approach is correct and Fidelity's is incorrect.  In that case, I would choose to NOT force Quicken to match Fidelity.

Since I am NOT a Fidelity client, someone else will need to confirm my recollections.   

Rocket J Squirrel

q_lurker said:

Since I am NOT a Fidelity client, someone else will need to confirm my recollections.   

Confirmed. Fidelity incorrectly uses $0.00 as the cost basis for reinvestments in retirement accounts.

NotACPA

Ironically, in a taxable account, Fidelity DOES add properly to the cost basis .... it's only in non-taxable retirement accounts that they have this failure.

I'm a member of Fidelity's "Private Client Group", and have asked about this anomaly several times and the response is always "cost basis isn't needed in a non-taxable account as there are no Capital Gains considerations."

When I point out the need for a proper basis for investment performance considerations, I typically get a blank stare.