Can I just do "Add Shares" for a Corporate Spin-off

allgoodnamestaken

Getting an error that the new company already exists so I can't complete the Spin-off Wizard without going back and deleting data which I'm concerned about doing. Is there a big difference between using Corporate Spin-off versus Add Shares? Thank you.

Frankx

Hi @allgoodnamestaken

Well, I'd say that there is.  In a spin-off transaction, your cost basis of the original company's stock (from your past purchases and reinvested dividends - if any) has to be reallocated from the oldco shares to the newco shares.  That can be a very involved calculation which - if you use Quicken to calculate, is actually very simple.  And, in my view, getting the cost basis of holdings correct is a very important thing.

To focus on your actual problem - can you explain how you happen to have a "new company" that already exists in your datafile?  If you just recently downloaded it, or manually set it up, it should be a simple task to delete it and then let Quicken record the spin-off. 

Frankx
 

Frankx

Hi @allgoodnamestaken

Well, I'd say that there is.  In a spin-off transaction, your cost basis of the original company's stock (from your past purchases and reinvested dividends - if any) has to be reallocated from the oldco shares to the newco shares.  That can be a very involved calculation which - if you use Quicken to calculate, is actually very simple.  And, in my view, getting the cost basis of holdings correct is a very important thing.

To focus on your actual problem - can you explain how you happen to have a "new company" that already exists in your datafile?  If you just recently downloaded it, or manually set it up, it should be a simple task to delete it and then let Quicken record the spin-off. 

Frankx
 

allgoodnamestaken

Hi Frankx,
Thank you for the quick reply. Strangely, the Brokerage recorded (downloaded) the fractional shares as just a dollar amount but not the spinoff. When I go into the Security List I see the Stock but the delete option is grayed out? I deleted the downloaded fractional shares transaction in the register how do i deleted the Stock now?

allgoodnamestaken

Hi again, I restarted Quicken and that allowed me to delete. Thank you so much for your help.

allgoodnamestaken

One last question, I hope? In the wizard is the "Security Name" the stock (Original Company) that the new company was spin from? Than you.

Ps56k2

allgoodnamestaken said: In the wizard is the "Security Name" the stock (Original Company) that the new company was spin from? Than you.

Guessing this is the screen you are seeing - yes, the Security Name is the orig/existing/old company ...

allgoodnamestaken

Yes, this is the screen i was on. When i entered the data I received 22 transactions. Is this correct?
When I go into Holdings, the total including fractional shares seem correct, however, I now need to convert the fractional shares into cash, what is the best way to do that? Thank you

q_lurker

allgoodnamestaken said:

Yes, this is the screen i was on. When i entered the data I received 22 transactions. Is this correct?
When I go into Holdings, the total including fractional shares seem correct, however, I now need to convert the fractional shares into cash, what is the best way to do that? Thank you

22 transactions would be correct if you had 20 lots of the parent company to begin with. 

To convert the fractional shares to cash, you need to enter a Sold transaction. You may need to match up the shares being sold in Quicken with how your brokerage managed the process so that your share count for each lot matches theirs.