From: Burbank, CA
Dear TaxMama,
I just cashed in some Raytheon common stock.
How can I find out what my uncle paid for this stock?
My uncle is in an Assisted Care facility, with Alzheimer's, so it is up to
me to file his yearly Federal tax returns.
Donald
Hi Donald,
Well, getting the price will be easy.
Getting the date of purchase may be harder - unless you have actual stock
certificates in hand.
You can look up the price on MarketWatch's BigCharts
historical look-up.
To test it, I tried ATT and naturally, the first date I made up turned
out to be a Sunday - so the program told me it wasn't traded on Sunday,
February 5, 1978.
It even gives you a 2-month daily chart, which showed the ranging over
a 50 cent spread.
Yahoo Finance also has a historical
look-up tool.
They'll give you a choice of prices - daily, weekly, monthly - and even
dividends paid.
If you don't know the actual purchase date, but you know approximately
what year, you can make a good faith guess.
Also, you might try to check with Raytheon's (RTN) investor relations
office to see if they or their agent can find the date the stock was purchased.
I don't know if they have that kind of information, but it can't hurt to
ask.
http://investor.raytheon.com/
Their stock transfer agent is American Stock Transfer & Trust Co. You
can reach them at 800.360.4519
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Eva Rosenberg, MBA, EA
