OK, so I realized I needed to take some time to learn about how sales of mutual funds are taxed. I went to this site ( Selling Mutual Fund Shares) to try and educate myself. There I learned that there are two ways of reporting gains/losses for mutual funds when you sell. You can use the same rules as those used for stocks, or the averaging method.
Basically, it sounds like stock method lets you have greater flexibility in that you can choose which shares you want to sell and therefore report smaller gains on what you sell. However, this method can be very detailed if you DCA into your mutual funds and/or have dividends reinvested. So, if you think this through ahead of time, and decide this is how you want to do your taxes, then it would be best to buy in lump sums and have dividends sent to your MM acount.
The averaging method is a little easier in that you don't have to figure out what shares you sold when you sell. So, if you have tons of transactions (ie. reinvested dividends), you'll likely find this method easier to do. Drawbacks are that once you start this for a mutual fund, you must always use this method. It also does not let you choose which shares you want to sell, so you may not have quite as favorable tax treatment. So it seems that for the slightly easier method, you may be giving up a little bit of advantage in how you are treated at tax time. However, I did read this: "For many people this method is not only the simplest method, but also the method that produces the best tax result." (Single-Category Averaging Method)
Hmmm...is the "stock" method really all that much more advantageous (in terms of tax treatment) than the averaging method  Opinions??
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simple girl less stuff, more time (41, married, DINKS. Hoping to both semiretire in 8-10 years...) |