Why does Quicken count Dividends Reinvested towards the Cost Basis??

dennis.f.warren

In syncing to Fidelity, I discovered in the Holdings screen in Quicken that the Cost Basis was different than what is reported by Fidelity. The cost base matched for securities where I have no dividends. Dividends reinvested should not count towards the cost basis of a security.

bmciance

Yes, reinvested dividends should count in your cost basis, especially if you are talking about a taxable account. If you are talking about an IRA, for some reason Fidelity doesn't include them in the cost basis since the cost basis doesn't really matter. However, in general reinvested dividends should always be included. It is as if you got the dividend and used the money to purchase more shares. If you used that money to buy a different stock wouldn't you count it in the cost basis of that stock?

Jim_Harman

Is this a retirement account, like an IRA or 401(k)? It appears that for those accounts, Fidelity does not count the cost basis correctly for reinvestments. Please see this discussion

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7241370/qwin-when-adding-dividend-reinvestment-shares-it-adds-that-to-the-cost-basis-is-there-a-way-to-no

NotACPA

Fidelity is inconsistent RE: Reinvestments

In a Taxable account, Fido shows those new shares as having the Div as the Cost Basis.

In a non-Taxable account, those new shares show, at Fidelity, with a basis of $0.

I've complained to my Fideity Private Client Group rep about this for years, with no change.

In this matter, Q is correct and Fido is wrong