Captools/net Documentation

Sell Short / Cover

Sell Short / Cover

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Sell Short / Cover

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SLS - Sell Short (proceeds to cash):  Use whenever a security is sold short.  A short sale must always be closed using one or more "Buy to Cover" (BYC) transactions containing a matching tax lot assignment.

 

tac_SLS_example

 

BYC - Buy to Cover Short Position (payment from cash):  Use whenever a security is purchased to cover a short position. A "Buy to Cover" transaction must be preceded by one or more Sell Short (SLS) transactions of equal or greater combined share quantity and containing matching tax lot assignments.

 

tac_BYC_example

 

Short sellers in the U.S. should be aware that short sales are subject to a tax rule which affects the capital gains holding period for securities when simultaneous long and short positions are taken in the same security:

 

Short Sale Rule - If you sell a security short while holding a substantially identical security short-term, or you acquire a substantially identical security before covering the short sale, then any gain on the short sale is short-term, and the holding period is suspended on the same number of shares held long while the short position was held.

 

The net effect of this rule is that short-sell/cover transactions are considered short-term unless the covering shares were already held long-term at the time of the short sale.  Captools/net's estimated tax calculation treats all short sell/cover transactions as short-term.  A manual Estimated Tax entry must be used if your short sale qualifies for long-term treatment.