You buy 200 shares IBM on 12-01-2006 for $1900.
You sell 200 shares of !BM on 12-15-2007 for $1840.
This is a loss of $60.
Then on 01-05-2007 you buy 200 shares of IBM for $1950.
You are not allowed to deduct the loss because this is considered a wash sale.
You can not deduct losses from sales or trades of stock or securities in a wash sale.
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:
-buy substantially identical stock or securities.
-acquire a substantially identical stock or securities in a fully taxable trade, or
-acquire a contract or option to buy substantially identical stock or securities.
HOW TO REPORT: Report a wash sale or trade on line 1 or line 8 of Schedule D (Form 1040), whichever is appropriate. Show the full amount of the loss in parentheses in column (f). On the next line, enter "wash sale" in column (a) and the amount of the loss not allowed as a positive amount in column (f).
If your loss was disallowed because of the wash sales rules, add the disallowed loss to the new stock or securities that caused the wash sale.