How to Issue a Stock Certificate

A stock certificate represents proof of ownership or investment in a corporate financial entity. All forms of corporations, including the limited liability corporations (LLC), partnership, including limited liability (LLP), and limited partnership (LLP), should receive a certificate. An LLC certificate is called a membership certificate. The LLP and LP are called partnership certificates. A stock certificate proves ownership and thus should be carefully held by the investor.
Review the number of authorized corporate shares. This material is available in the articles of incorporation. It may also be found through the public records of the Secretary of State in the state of issuance. Issue shares for less than half of all the authorized shares so that additional members added in the future do not require a new authorization of shares by existing shareholders.
Calculate the percentage ownership of each shareholder. Allocate the appropriate number of shares based on the percentage ownership and the number of shares to be issued. For example, a shareholder owns 10 percent of a recently formed company. There are 200 shares authorized and 50 shares to be issued. The shareholder will receive stock certificates for five shares.
Each stock certificate should include the name and number of shares of the stockholder. The certificates, readily available online or in stationery stores, should include a certificate number so changes in share ownership can be easily transacted. Never change the number of shares on a certificate. A purchase should result in additional certificates being issued or the old certificate being retired and a new certificate created.
A listing of all shareholder information, including name, address, shares held and certificate numbers, should be entered into the articles of incorporation. Another copy should be kept in a separate place where it can be quickly accessed by the secretary of the company. A certificate should be sent by certified mail to each shareholder.

How to Report Stock Loss on an Income Tax Return

Obtain Form 8949 for Form 1040. This form can be downloaded from the Internal Revenue Service website. Tax software should ask you if you have any capital gains or losses to report.
Determine whether your stock was a long-term or short-term holding. Stocks held less than one year are classified as short-term holdings.
Fill out the information about your particular stock in part I of Form 8949 if the stock was held short term and part II if the stock was held long term. You will need to know the date you purchased the stock, the amount you paid for the stock, the date you sold the stock and the amount you received when the stock was sold. The totals on page one and two of Form 8949 will carry over to Schedule D.
Follow the instructions on the Schedule D to finish computing the total amount of your loss and the amount of the loss you can claim in the current year. There is a limit to the amount of capital loss that can be claimed in a given tax year. You may carry over any unclaimed loss for use in future tax years.
Record the amount of loss calculated on line 21 of Schedule D and on line 13 (capital gains and losses section) of Form 1040.
When adding the first several lines on Form 1040 to arrive at your total income, deduct the amount of the loss you reported on line 13 as a capital loss.

How to Report Stock Options Taxes (8 Steps)

Review your brokerage earnings statement for the tax year (and previous tax years if necessary) and group together purchase dates and prices with the appropriate selling dates and prices.
Calculate and determine which options were short-term assets and which were long-term assets. Any option that was held for over a year is considered a long-term capital gain or loss.
Enter into line 1 of the 'Part I' Section of Schedule D the first short-term stock option transaction that was completed for the tax year. Options that are presently held will be reported in a future tax year. The description (column A) of the option must include the company name, the quantity of options traded, the type of option (Call or Put) and the expiration date (i.e. Dec 2009).
Enter into columns (B) and (C) the dates the option was purchased and sold, respectively. Notice that if the transaction was a short sale of the option, the sold date would precede the purchase date.
Enter into column (D) and (E) the sales price and the cost of the options, respectively. Ensure that commissions and exchange fees are included in these prices.
Calculate the gain or loss from the option transaction by subtracting the option cost (column E) from the sales price (column D) and enter the gain or loss into column (F).
Continue entering all the short-term option transactions that were completed during the tax year as described in the previous steps. If necessary, use Schedule D-1 (continuation sheet for Schedule D) to report all the transactions.
Enter into line 8 of the 'Part II' Section of Schedule D the first long-term stock option transaction that was completed for the tax year. Continue entering all the long-term stock option trades, following the previous steps for short-term option trades. If necessary, use Schedule D-1 (continuation sheet for Schedule D) to report all the transactions.