Commission accounting when it's a monthly fee

Question

Years ago I used a brokerage where there was a monthly fee ($6.99), but no commissions identified for individual transactions.  I'm going back to increase the accuracy of those transactions (manually entered) in Quicken 2010 Premier, and was intending to divide that fee equally (as a commission) among all transactions in any given month.  I've looked at applicable IRS publications but can't see any specific guidance regarding this scenario.  Any thoughts?

q_lurker · Answer

If you are expecting to reduce the cost basis of the stock purchases made at that time to be used against sales made now, I suggest you talk with a tax pro about that consideration.  The folks over at the turbo Tax forum/community may be willing to offer opinions.

If you are just trying to "increase the accuracy", I am not sure what that means.  Jim's comment is likely on target but even that is at an account level rather than a security level.  Note the "option" he is citing is a subscription program feature and requires a "Withdraw" action rather than a MiscExp action.

I am skeptical that your efforts to allocate the fixed cost to the various securities will make anything more accurate.

Jim_Harman · Answer

A better way is to enter the fee as a MiscExp with an appropriate Category. If shares were sold to cover the expense, you should record that as a separate Sold transaction

There is an option to control whether the fee is recorded as a drag on the performance or not, if you want to get to that level of detail.