Quote from sledgeyum:
Hi
I'm not understanding these other responses here.
If you sell a stock at a loss, you need to wait 30/31 days, if you want to keep that in your capital losses, to get the tax deduction.
If you enter before the 30/31 days, that previous sale at a loss is now washed out, and no longer counts as a capital loss.
Sledge, you are being thick..
IRS Pub 550, pg 59.
Wash Sales
You cannot deduct losses from sales or trades
of stock or securities in a wash sale unless the
loss was incurred in the ordinary course of your
business as a dealer in stock or securities.
A wash sale occurs when you sell or trade
stock or securities at a loss and within 30 days
before or after the sale you:
1. Buy substantially identical stock or securi-
ties,
2. Acquire substantially identical stock or se-
curities in a fully taxable trade,
3. Acquire a contract or option to buy sub-
stantially identical stock or securities, or
4. Acquire substantially identical stock for
your individual retirement account (IRA) or
Roth IRA.
If you sell stock and your spouse or a corpora-
tion you control buys substantially identical
stock, you also have a wash sale.
If your loss was disallowed because of the
wash sale rules, add the disallowed loss to the
cost of the new stock or securities (except in (4)
above). The result is your basis in the new stock
or securities. This adjustment postpones the
loss deduction until the disposition of the new
stock or securities. Your holding period for the
new stock or securities includes the holding pe-
riod of the stock or securities sold.