AccuBasis Will Help Customers Meet New Legal Requirements

AccuBasis arrived in the nick of time. “The financial services industry expects that the U.S. Congress, in early 2008, will pass a law requiring all financial intermediaries to report – much like a 1099 – adjusted cost-basis information to both investors and the Internal Revenue Service for all transactions on or after January 1, 2009,” said Joseph Trezza, DTCC vice president, Product Management, Asset Services. “Many issuers and their transfer agents expect to be impacted by these legislative changes.”

The cost-basis provision, part of the Clean Renewable Energy and Conservation Tax Act of 2007, would apply to stock acquired after January 1, 2009, and after January 1, 2011, for all other instruments. Many banks, brokerage firms and mutual fund companies have begun testing AccuBasis in anticipation of proposed legislation, which would cover stock, debt, commodities, derivatives and other securities specified by the government.

“This could be a major financial burden for firms that have to do manual tracking of cost-basis information, requiring hundreds of hours of research and reporting,” said Trezza. “If that sounds like a nightmare, AccuBasis could be a dream come true.” @