Question:   How do I figure the cost basis when the shares I'm selling were purchased at various times and at different prices?

Answer:   If you can identify which shares of stock you sold, your basis is:

• What you paid for the shares sold plus any costs of purchase.
• The total of all the acquisition costs of all the shares sold if you sell a block of the same kind of stock and you report all the shares sold at the same time as one sale.

If you cannot adequately identify the shares you sold and you bought the shares at various times for different prices, the basis of the stock sold is:

• The basis of the shares you acquired first (first-in first-out). Except for certain mutual fund shares, you cannot use the average price per share to figure gain or loss on the sale of stock.