Tax Lot Accounting Basics

Tax lot accounting can help brokerage firms release capital gains down the road, freeing them from current tax burdens. This gives firms flexibility when trying to balance their books on a short-term basis.

When it comes to securities holdings, often times showing a loss isn't a bad thing. This happens when there are benefits to recognizing losses on securities, such as deferring capital gains (and their associated taxes) to a later time. This is where tax lot accounting software becomes a crucial weapon that every broker should have at their disposal.

This piece of software automatically tracks important information for each piece of security that is a part of a broker's portfolio, including dates of purchase and sale, cost basis reporting and transaction size. By doing so, brokers can more easily identify ways to minimize the current value of investment by minimizing the capital gains released, making it easier to lessen the one-time tax burden placed by a range of investments.

One excellent financial services software tool that helps provide assistance in this area is the Active Trader Tax Lot Accounting System (ATTLAS) provided by Davidsohn Global Technologies. Along with providing detailed tax lot accounting even at high transactional volumes, ATTLAS helps companies come into global regulatory compliance with laws both abroad and at home such as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. ATTLAS provides reconciliation reporting which ensures that tax lot accounting information matches with the core records along with identification and basis adjustments on wash sales.

Michael Dougherty is a financial writer who lives in Boston. He has written for newspapers and magazines along with some of the leading online Web sites.