Your own account at a brokerage. (-Update & renovation in progress Feb 24, 2025)

Your HP, HPE, and spinoff stock is probably not all held in one place. For example, spinoff shares may not wind up in the same place as the parent shares. Records at plan administrators and stock brokerages often don't have the original acquisition date and correctly-calculated current cost basis for each lot of acquired shares -- a major impact on what they report to the IRS when the stock is sold. An "Unknown" basis defaults to $0.

When you leave, your shares are automatically moved from an employer-paid account at a Plan Administrator -- such as the NetBenefits division of Fidelity or the MyBenefits division of Merrill Lynch -- to a personal account at the Stock Brokerage [you are here] division of the same financial conglomerate. (Merrill Lynch calls the two accounts "Employer Sponsored Plan" and "Individual Investor Account.") The new account will use a different website, login, and account number.

Since your employer is no longer paying for the account, you will probably be billed an annual fee (which may be higher than you might expect.) Lot-and-cost data for your lots should have been preserved if you move between the "benefits" and "retail" divisions of the same financial company.

However, if you move the shares to a different stock brokerage, the shares of each company will be moved in a single lot -- you will have to use your own records to enter date and purchase price for each lot into the second broker's system.

If there is a stock spinoff, the new stock will either be at the spun-off company's Transfer Agent or in your personal Stock Brokerage account -- depending on where the parent stock was located.

Indirect registration at a stock brokerage that you have selected. You are a "beneficial owner" of those shares in an account at a brokerage, trustee, or other nominee. 

- Your point of contact is the stock brokerage, not the company. The company's transfer agent knows only the grand total holding by all clients of the brokerage.

- Dividend payments and stockholder communications are sent to the address on file with the brokerage.

- Multiple roles played by different divisions of these financial companies can be confusing. For example, "Wells Fargo Shareowner Services" (now Equiniti) was a transfer agent -- a different company from the stock brokerage called "Wells Fargo Advisors."

- Spinoff shares should show up in the same brokerage account as the corresponding parent shares.

- If you moved your stock to a stock brokerage other than one used by the company, date and cost basis for each lot will have been lost unless you made a special effort to input your cost basis for each lot. Fidelity has an online process to enter purchase lots and cost for each lot. Members report successfully doing this years later. https://www.Fidelity.com/customer-service/how-to-change-your-cost-basis-info Unknown if other brokerages offer this feature.

- Plan administrators, transfer agents, and brokerages vary significantly in how (or if) they track lot-by-lot original cost and acquisition date, gain/loss, cash payouts, and current cost basis for the many complex HP-related stock events – and what (if anything) they report to the IRS. Some let you correct your cost basis information, reducing the tax when you sell. Preserve the documents and spreadsheets you used to figure your taxes. Admin and Broker Issues

(Apr 7, 2024)

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