And, while that very well may be true, Uncle Sammy doesn't see the humor in the fact that you're retaining your economic position in your stock while buying yourself a tax deduction with no risk to you in the future. Therefore, to close this glaring loophole, the Feds long ago named this transaction a "wash sale" and deemed that any loss on a wash sale could not be currently recognized.
Wash Sales
Under the wash sale rules, if you sell stock for a loss and buy it back within the 30-day period before or after the loss-sale date, the loss cannot be immediately claimed for tax purposes.This rule is designed to prevent you from selling stock to claim the loss and then buying it back within a short period of time to retain ownership. Note that the rule applies to a 30-day period before or after the sale date, to prevent "buying the stock back" before it's even sold.
This might sound outrageously unfair to you. After all, if your money was plunked into the stock, and your dollars were lost, how can it be that you're not allowed to claim the loss?
You do get to claim the loss -- just not now. Although the loss can't be claimed on a wash sale, the disallowed amount is added to the cost of the repurchased stock. So, the loss can be claimed when it is finally disposed of, other than in a wash sale.
Example: Larry Laundry buys 500 shares of ABC Corp. for $10,000 and sells them on June 5 for $3,000. On June 30, he buys 500 shares of ABC for $3,200. Since the stock was "repurchased" within 30 days of loss-sale date, the wash sale rules apply. Larry can't claim his $7,000 loss. Instead, he must adjust his basis in the repurchased shares. His basis in his "new" 500 shares is $10,200 -- the actual cost, plus the $7,000 disallowed loss.
Larry would also be in violation of the wash sale rules if he purchased his "new" shares on June 1 and then made the loss sale on June 5. Remember, the rule is 30 days before or after the date of the loss sale. But, also remember that if Larry had waited the required 30 days before he "repurchased" his shares, there would be no wash sale.
