Cost basis and capital gains
To determine whether you have a capital gain or loss on shares you sold or exchanged, you must establish your
cost basis. Cost basis generally is the price you paid for your shares, including any sales charges. Your cost
basis may not be the same for all shares because the price may have varied if you made purchases at different
times. Shares you acquired through reinvested dividends or capital gains are also considered separate purchases
and should be included in your calculations.
The difference between your cost basis and the amount you received when you sold or redeemed your shares
represents your gain or loss. If you held your shares as a capital asset, the gain or loss that you realize will
be a capital gain or loss and will be long-term or short-term, generally depending on how long you have held
your shares.
Wash sales
A wash-sale transaction occurs when you sell shares at a loss and purchase the same or substantially identical
shares (including reinvested dividends) within a 61-day period, beginning 30 days prior to the sale and ending
30 days after the sale. With wash sales, you may not be able to claim some or all of the capital loss
immediately. The amount of any postponed loss is added back to the cost basis of the new shares you purchased in
the wash-sale transaction. When you eventually sell those shares, your average cost will reflect the postponed
loss amount.
Effects of sales loads
Any sales load charges included in the cost basis of the shares purchased will result in a reduction of the
capital gain (or an increase of the capital loss) upon the redemption or exchange of the shares. However,
special rules apply to shareholders who have reinvestment privileges that allow them to use the redemption
proceeds of their original investment to purchase shares in another fund of the same mutual fund family without
incurring an additional sales load charge. A shareholder cannot include the sales load charge in the cost basis
of acquired shares if the shareholder redeems or exchanges those shares within 90 days of the purchase date and
acquires new shares in the same mutual fund family by January 31 of the calendar year following the calendar year
in which the disposition of the original shares occurred for which the sales load charge is waived. Instead, the
amount of the sales load charge should be added to the cost basis of the newly acquired shares.
Long-term capital gains
Long-term capital gains distributions from a mutual fund are generally reported as long-term capital gains
regardless of how long you owned shares in a fund. However, if you owned shares for less than six months,
received a long-term capital gains distribution on these shares, and sold them at a loss, part or all of the
loss on the sale of the shares (which would normally be short-term based on the holding period) may be
recharacterized as long-term instead. The amount of the loss equal to or less than the long-term capital gain
distribution is the amount which will be recharacterized as long-term. The amount of the loss greater than the
long-term capital gain distribution remains short-term. See IRS Publication 550 or consult a tax advisor before
making this calculation.
The average cost method
We provide cost basis information on your Form 1099-B if you sold or exchanged shares during the year from a taxable
account opened in 1993 or later (see the cost basis statement included with your Form 1099-B). However, we are only
required to provide cost basis information to the IRS for shares you bought in 2012 or later. For shares purchased
prior to January 1, 2012, such cost basis information is provided as a courtesy to you and is not reported to the IRS.
By default, Delaware Funds by Macquarie® uses what is known as the average cost method to calculate your
cost basis. This means that to arrive at one cost figure, we average the cost of your shares. You should carefully
review the cost basis information provided by us, and make any necessary basis, holding period, or other adjustments
when reporting these amounts on your federal income tax returns.
Though this is the default method used by Delaware Funds by Macquarie to prepare your cost basis, you should
consult your tax advisor to determine whether the average cost method is the most suitable for you. Beginning
with the 2012 tax year, we are required to provide the IRS with the cost-basis information, for shares purchased
on or after January 1, 2012, subject to certain exceptions. For more details, read about the changes to cost basis reporting
requirements.
If you or your tax advisor are using a method other than the average cost method for shares purchased prior to
2012, your year-end account statements from previous years can be used to obtain purchase prices. If you did not
save your old statements, our shareholder service representatives are available to assist you. Call 800 523-1918
weekdays 8:30am to 6:00pm ET.
For information on how to report mutual fund distributions on your federal tax return, please read the
reverse side of your Form 1099-DIV. If you have specific questions about IRS regulations or need additional
assistance in completing your tax return, you should consult your tax advisor or the IRS.