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HPQ/HWP Cost Basis Spreadsheets (Updated Aug 14, 2025) Not officially endorsed or supported.
This page gives details for only one aspect of the many HP/HPE-related stocks. If you were ever an HP shareholder, you may now have shares of HPQ, HPE, Keysight, and/or Agilent – in different accounts. If ever an HPE shareholder, you may now have shares of DXC – and may not have received cash payouts for MFGP and PRSP. Only you – not the company, plan administrators, transfer agents, brokers, or the IRS – can reconstruct your full stock history. Transactions were often tracked and reported differently – or not at all.
When finished with this page, go to: HP/HPE-Related Stocks
Question? Email us: info@hpalumni.org
A team of HPAA volunteers has developed spreadsheets to help you determine cost basis for your HP/HPE-related stock (HP, HPE, DXC, Seattle SpinCo, Micro Focus, Agilent, and Keysight.)
Which spreadsheets to download?
The spreadsheets you need depend on how and when you acquired your stock lots.
Be sure you are using current versions -- as indicated in the filenames.
A. If acquired via employee stock purchase plan. The HPAA HPQ/HWP Cost Basis Spreadsheets cover the various stock purchase plans over the years (which had discounts varying between 33% and 0%.)
►
If employee stock purchase 1959 through 10/31/2000. To
determine your cost basis for each lot of spinoff shares,
you select from rows that have been pre-filled with official
data for each SOP or ESPP purchase cycle.
Use our
Pre-2001 spreadsheet:
Version 14a, updated April 5, 2018, includes:
Keysight, dividend reinvestment (DRIP),
2002 accelerated vesting. (Minor tweaks 2/28/21)
If you don't have good records of your employee stock purchases -- or did not input your lot-and-cost information into your broker's system -- you can use our spreadsheets to estimate your cost basis for most HP/HPE-related stocks for any span of HP employment from Jul 1959 through the Nov 2000 plan changeover. See the Directions and tips page for details.
Click to download:
HPQ-Pre2001-SpinoffTaxCalc-v14a.xlsx
Directions and tips
Reference example
►If employee stock purchase
11/01/2000 through 10/31/2017. For this time period, the
HP employee purchase plan was more complex and you need to
determine ordinary income or capital gain.
Use a different spreadsheet -- our
Post-2000 spreadsheet.
Click to download:
HPQ-Post2000-SpinoffTaxCalc-v01.xlsx
(There are two tabs -- one for HPQ and one for HPE and HPE
spinoffs. Directions are included in the spreadsheet.)
B. If acquired via service award, option,
equity award plan, dividend reinvestment program, or open-market
purchase -- i.e. not via employee stock purchase.
Again, use our
Pre-2001 spreadsheet.
Click to download:
HPQ-Pre2001-SpinoffTaxCalc-v14a.xlsx
C. If acquired via Compaq employee stock purchase plan. Click to download: CPQ-ESPP-SpinoffTaxCalc-v01.xlsx
Notes. The cost basis treatment for the 2017 Micro Focus spinoff and merger used in the HPAA HPQ/HWP Cost Basis Spreadsheets is based on a legal opinion provided to HPE by outside tax counsel.
Due to the many complex HP-related stock events, only you – not the company, plan administrators, transfer agents, brokers, or the IRS – can reconstruct your full stock history. Transactions were often tracked and reported differently – or not at all. Retain your documents and tax calculations indefinitely. Admin and Broker Issues
The wide variation in reporting of the 2017 Micro Focus spinoff and merger affects cost basis calculations for all HP/HPE-related stock acquired before the HP/HPE split of 2015-10-21. As a result, neither the 2019 Micro Focus "Return of Value" transaction nor the 2021 sale of Perspecta can be factored into the HPAA cost basis spreadsheets.
Inherited stock, unlike gifted securities, is not valued at its original cost basis. When an individual inherits a stock, its cost basis is stepped up to the value of the security at the date of the inheritance.
Donating stock. "If you are planning donations to charity anyway, you may be able to avoid having to figure out the basis for stocks by just donating the stock. Check with an accountant or tax advisor for details or possible pitfalls. Saved me a lot of grief." --HPAA member
Tips:
- Excel tips: Member tips on using complex spreadsheets -- with links to Microsoft articles.
- Member advice on Obtaining Stock Records
- For any of the spinoffs, your broker may have used a different formula than the one suggested in the Cost Basis letter provided by the company -- resulting in a somewhat different value. For example, Fidelity stock issues reported by members
- If you set up a dividend reinvestment program (DRIP) in any of your accounts, additional shares were automatically purchased at market price. You paid taxes on the dividends. The resulting shares have a cost basis and spinoff spinoff shares, but the special ESPP tax calculations do not apply -- therefore, DRIP is not included in the Post-2000 spreadsheet. DRIP is included in Version 14 of the Pre-2001 spreadsheet.
- Be sure to save the spreadsheets you have modified -- under a different filename -- and keep them for future reference when you sell shares, etc.
Notes:
- The HPAA HPQ/HWP Cost Basis Spreadsheets are based on dates and values from official HP documents. Your records may show transactions executed a day or two later -- or with a penny or two cost variation due to rounding.
- The current spreadsheet versions supersede recent files named "MicroFocusUSTax..." and "HPRelatedStockBasis..." -- plus HPAA files named "HP...Stock_Purchase_Valuation..." dating back to 2004.
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