Hi -

I thought I'd just check in with you all and let you know how my ESPP tax preparation is going. I finished up my spreadsheet last night. The hardest part was wrangling with the tax code and understanding the 2 year holding period rule. Basically, I sort the data set by the
"Income Tax Per Share" and "Gain Tax Per Share" columns to determine which lots I should use for a given transaction. I sort to see the most 'Gain Tax Per Share' for charity donations. And I sort to see the least 'Income Tax Per Share' for just plain selling stock and minimizing tax.

This was very confusing for me, because although I understood the tax law and the folks on the board were *extremely* helpful, it was really hard to put together a spreadsheet that was "dynamic" (eg, could be kept current easily w/ new transactions from my ESPP and could give me a snapshot of current tax planning scenarios at a drop of a hat)

If anyone wants to look at my spreadsheet, just let me know how I can post it on the web..

Here's a list of my headings:

Date
Grant Date
Long / Short
ESPP Holding Period Met
Transaction Activity
Lot Number
Shares
Sales Price (SP)
Closing Market Price (MP)
Purchase Price (PP)
Purchase Amount
Transaction Fee
Transaction Status
Transaction Date
SP>PP
SP>MP
MP-PP
SP-PP
Compensation Income
BASIS
Taxable Gain Income (Loss)
Income Tax
Gain Tax
Total Tax
Income Tax Per Share
Gain Tax per Share
Total Tax Per Share