Thanks, Ira! You've been a great help!

:D

IraS1@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 2/10/2006 11:31:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> mackinac@bivio.com writes:
> Thanks,
> Ira.
>
> I have performed the calculation per the spreadsheet
> you
> referenced.  Just a couple more questions.  Can you
> please
> school me on what constitutes a long term capital gain,
> short
> term capital gain and return of capital?
>
> Also when stock is sold, is it
> on a LIFO basis or a FIFO
> basis?  We had bought 100 shares in 3
> different purchases
> and sold 25 before the merger.  I have made the
> calculations
> for all three purchases, but I'm not sure which set
> of
> numbers to use.
>
>
> Starting with the last question first, Unless you specify otherwise before
> the sale is made, you sell your oldest shares first. So you've already sold the
> first 25 shares you bought. You can eliminate them from the calculations.
>  
> Long-term capital gain is gain on shares you've owned for more than a year.
> Short-term capital gain is gain on shares you've owned for a year or less. If
> the value of Washington Mutual shares received is less than your cost basis in
> the Providian shares that were exchanged, any cash you received..up to the
> amount of the difference is return of capital. Jim Thomas has created a
> spreadsheet that will do all of the calculations for you. It can be found at www.nwlink.com/~jimt075/stockcashmerger.xls.
> It was created for the MBNA/Bank of America merger, but it should be
> obvious what values to change in order to use it for the
> Providian/Washington Mutual merger.
>  
> Ira Smilovitz