My wife works for a company that is offering an ESPP. They have a great match that makes it worth it. The stocks go to “Shareworks” where she can either sell directly to cash out, or do a direct transfer into a brokerage account. In July, we transferred all her shares (about 85) over to her account in E*Trade. All the shares transferred over, but it’s showing a cost basis of $0. Due to that, it’s showing a ridiculous amount of unrealized gains. In reality, the stock is actually about even+/- a few $ since the transfer when stocks were acquired. Anyone experienced that before?

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Posted by makersmark1

earth

Member since Oct 2011

21586 posts

Posted on 8/18/26 at 3:40 pm to Tiger328

The brokerage willl probably allow you to state the basis.

I assume you have records.

This post was edited on 8/18/26 at 3:41 pm

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Posted by Skippy1013

Lafayette, La

Member since Oct 2017

845 posts

Posted on 8/18/26 at 4:10 pm to Tiger328

Do you actually know your cost basis? If so, most brokerage accounts allow you to manually edit your cost basis. Keep in mind, you need accurate records to verify your numbers in case Uncle Sam asks for proof.

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Posted by CEB

Member since May 2023

81 posts

Posted on 8/18/26 at 9:14 pm to Tiger328

You should be able to see the historical cost basis in the Shareworks account history.

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Posted by LSUFanHouston

NOLA

Member since Jul 2009

41652 posts

Posted on 8/19/26 at 11:42 am to Tiger328

Because of the stock purchase discount, basis info sometimes won’t transfer over properly

You should be able to tell the new broker what the basis is, but note they may not tell the IRS when sold.

Also note that when sold, how the gain is different, based on how long you hold it for and what the discount was

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