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- Newsgroups: misc.invest
- Path: sparky!uunet!microsoft!wingnut!mattsq
- From: mattsq@microsoft.com (Matthew Squires)
- Subject: Re: Institutions vs. Individuals (TAX question)
- Message-ID: <1992Dec23.025623.13344@microsoft.com>
- Date: 23 Dec 92 02:56:23 GMT
- Organization: Microsoft Corporation
- References: <8497@btr.BTR.COM>
- Lines: 34
-
- In article <8497@btr.BTR.COM> bfong@btr.btr.com (B Fong bfong@btr.com) writes:
- >Dear fellow netters,
- >
- >Here is a question regarding how to save money on taxes when
- >trading equities (stocks).
- >
- >As many (or some) of you know, when an institution (e.g. a
- >typical mutual fund) buy and sell an equity it does not incur
- >any tax consequence. The tax consequence is only incurred when
- >the investor takes the money out of the fund (then he has either
- >a gain or a loss).
- >
-
- You are forgetting the other tax consequence of mutual funds, a
- consequence a lot of us are discovering this time of year - a mutual
- fund must distribute most of its capital gains to its shareholders
- every year.
-
- Let's say you set up a "personal mutual fund". This mutual fund
- only has one share, which you own. This mutual fund can buy and
- sell to its heart's content during 1993. The fund will have
- short and long term gains and losses. The share price of your
- personal fund will rise and fall, and as long as you never sell
- your one share, there will be no tax consequence for you.
-
- But, at the end of every year, the fund must pass off its capital
- gains to the shareholders. Since you are the solitary shareholder,
- you will be hit with a capital gain equal to what the fund gained.
-
- Therefore, you haven't accomplished much except to generate a
- bunch of extra paperwork for youself.
-
- MattSkew
- mattsq@microsoft.com
-