a couple of tax return questions

[ER_Hopeful]

going to work on my 2009 tax return(I filed an extension) and have a couple questions.

1. I sold some tech stocks(total proceed is about $1800) which I bought way back in maybe year 2000. I could no longer locate the buy info, I called etrade and they no longer have it either. So can I use some approximate buy date/cost? will this be some kind of red flag? I know I paid at least twice the amount for it.

2. finally sold my Sun MicroSystem stocks for about $200 total (bought maybe 10 years, lost buy info also), its symbol changed to JAVA in 2007 and it was bought out by Oracle this year so it's no longer listed. when I report the transaction on my return, should I use the symbol before the change or after. On the sell confirmation, it's using the JAVA symbol.

thanks,

 

[grumpy]

Use the name of the company, not the ticker symbol.

Pick an arbitrary date near when you think you bought the shares and look up the historical closing price on that date. Use that as your cost basis. The IRS has no easy way (or the time or motivation) to check a detail like that. As long as you make a good faith effort to determine the cost basis, you have nothing to worry aboutl