Question

Calvin, a client of yours since you opened your practice, has over the past few years become very intrigued with investing in the stock market. He has interest bearing securities and dividend paying stocks. He also owns U.S. Securities. He is considering selling $400,000 in stocks. He doesn’t know if he should sell additional stock for a loss to help offset the stock sale of $400,000. Calvin called you to ask what tax consequences the interest and dividends will have along with the stock sale. What tax advice would you offer to Calvin in planning for this situation?

Answer 1

Interest income from investments is usually treated like ordinary income for federal tax purposes.

Use tax-shielded accounts. If you're saving money for retirement, and don't want to pay taxes on dividends, consider opening a Roth IRA. You contribute already-taxed money to a Roth IRA. Once the money is in there, you don't have to pay taxes as long as you take it out in accordance with the rules.

If you reinvestment dividends, you buy additional shares with the dividend, rather than take the cash. Dividend reinvestment can be a good strategy because it's cheap because reinvestment is automatic, you won't owe any commissions or other brokerage fees when you buy more shares.