I have had one huge headache looking for a seventeen cent
($.17) discrepancy between our Bivio records and the our
Broker's numbers. I have gone over it and over it and over
it again ~~~ with no luck. What do you do in a case such as
this? Can I fudge on the Tax Return without the need of
packing a toothbrush? Please help me ~~~~~~~~~please!

Ellen

Ellen! No toothbrush needed!!

Oftentimes, I find that brokers will carry out a fractional share or a
dollar amount 3-6 decimals (your entry in Bivio might have been $10.64,
where the broker may have really issued $10.64780612). Get it?? These
fractional differences are minor, and promise NOT to land you in jail if you
don't report them!! Either make a forced adjustment to your books with a
good explanation, or (better yet) leave them alone until you sell the stock
or close the account.

At the end of the year, our club runs all the reports for our group
audit--such as membership transaction reports, individual investment
reports, bank and broker transaction reports, etc. We do a line-by-line
audit of all numbers, then we sign off on them. When we have a minor
discrepancy like the one you describe, we simply make a notation on the
audited paperwork and save it in the file with our statements and tax
documents. If it ever comes back to us, we have noted the situation.

So don't fret! Double check again. See if decimal placement could be
causing your problem!

Lynn Ostrem, Minneapolis
garbagecop@foxinternet.net
www.bivio.com/crowriver

Ellen Gilmartin wrote:
> I have had one huge headache looking for a seventeen cent
> ($.17) discrepancy between our Bivio records and the our
> Broker's numbers. I have gone over it and over it and over
> it again ~~~ with no luck. What do you do in a case such as
> this? Can I fudge on the Tax Return without the need of
> packing a toothbrush? Please help me ~~~~~~~~~please!
>
> Ellen

Ellen,

I ran into an interesting issue this year with the new
qualified dividends, and maybe that's what you have as well.
I received the year end broker statement and it was off $.96
from the bivio records. I checked each holding individually
and verified things and found the SPF was my culprit. The
broker reported $.96 lets in dividends than I had in bivio.
I checked the transaction log on Ameritrade (our broker) and
saw that there were 4 payments, etc. I finally called them
and after explaining the situation and waiting 30 minutes
for them to do the math I had on each holding, we found that
for some reason the May dividend was non taxable.
Ameritrade does not report anything less than $10, so that's
why it appeared nowhere on the statement.

So, maybe a call to your broker will help you find this
issue, and it may simply be that they do not include the
$.17 on your statement.

Bob Smyk
Treasurer
INSecurities Investment Club

Thanks Lynn & Robert:

It took a few days, but I finally found my error ~ and I am
a dope. I will for sure be more careful in the future.
Apparently I duplicated two dividends, but when I duplicated
each of them, I entered both in the year 2002 ~ what an
idiot.

Thanks again -
Ellen
****************
Ellen Gilmartin previously wrote:
> I have had one huge headache looking for a seventeen cent
> ($.17) discrepancy between our Bivio records and the our
> Broker's numbers.(snip)
****************