{"id":1069,"date":"2021-09-17T00:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/?p=1069"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:53:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:53:32","slug":"cost-basis-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"height:2px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer has-black-background-color has-background\"><\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"everything-we-do-we-design-in-service-of-great-independent-financial-advisors-and-their-clients-this-means-that-top-to-bottom-we-look-at-everything-with-a-microscope-to-help-ensure-that-we\">Everything we do, we design in service of great, independent financial advisors and their clients. This means that top to bottom, we look at everything with a microscope to help ensure that we&rsquo;re enabling the best possible experience.<\/h3>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">That&rsquo;s the reason Altruist is changing the default cost basis reporting method for all client accounts. This reporting method is used to determine the order in which tax lots are sold. We shifted the default method from first-in-first-out (FIFO) to Minimum Tax (MinTax): a method that is designed to automatically minimize the realized gains generated by taxable trades on our platform.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-210fd980 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"border-radius:0px;border-top-color:#000000;border-top-width:2px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--800);margin:var(--wp--preset--spacing--1200) 0;--columns:2\" data-columns=\"2\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:40%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-headline-4-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:900\" id=\"most-custodians-offer-advisors-and-clients-the-ability-to-elect-the-reporting-method-of-their-choosing\">Most custodians offer advisors and clients the ability to elect the reporting method of their choosing <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:60%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph has-paragraph-1-font-size\" style=\"letter-spacing:-1px\">But&nbsp;<em>the majority of<\/em>&nbsp;custodians default to FIFO, which may not always be tax efficient.By relying only on&nbsp;<em>when&nbsp;<\/em>a share was bought, FIFO ignores the tax burden incurred upon clients by failing to look at the broader context.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph has-paragraph-1-font-size\" style=\"letter-spacing:-1px\">Normally, to ensure the lowest tax bill for their clients, an advisor needs to send specific instructions to their custodian. In the absence of an instruction to sell shares from a specific lot, purchased on a specific date and for a specific price, custodians typically use FIFO.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-210fd980 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"border-radius:0px;border-top-color:#000000;border-top-width:2px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--800);margin:var(--wp--preset--spacing--1200) 0;--columns:2\" data-columns=\"2\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:40%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-headline-4-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:900\" id=\"altruist-is-different\">Altruist is different. <\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:60%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph has-paragraph-1-font-size\" style=\"letter-spacing:-1px\">By default, starting October 4th, we&rsquo;ll use the MinTax method, which sells the shares with the lowest tax burden first, rather than only looking at whether or not the lot is long term. Our new default reporting method prioritizes short-term losses before long-term losses, and long-term capital gains before short-term ones&mdash;making this generally more tax-efficient than FIFO by prioritizing the most valuable losses before the most costly gains.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph has-paragraph-1-font-size\" style=\"letter-spacing:-1px\">Of course, if an advisor determines another one of our supported reporting methods will be most beneficial to their clients, we have them covered and can support them in updating the default method for any of their accounts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">As advisors on our platform, you can rest assured that we&rsquo;re always looking for ways to make it easier for you to help create better outcomes for your clients, without additional work. To us, making this change is simply common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph is-style-notice\" style=\"\"><em>For more information, please review the Cost Basis Reporting Method Election section of the Altruist Financial LLC Customer Agreement on&nbsp;our<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/altruist.com\/legal\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;Legal page<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":2618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_custom_page_spacing":"","_custom_nav_style":"","_hide_navigation":false,"_hide_footer":false,"_article_types":"article","footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[90,93],"class_list":["post-1069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-products","tag-portfolio-management","tag-reporting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis - Altruist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis - Altruist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Altruist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-17T00:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-09T17:53:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"702\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ali Littman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@altruist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@altruist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ali Littman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ali Littman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c7fbb80ddb16e9f685e828ee545db6f5\"},\"headline\":\"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-17T00:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-09T17:53:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":392,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Portfolio management\",\"Reporting\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Products\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis - Altruist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-17T00:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-09T17:53:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg\",\"width\":1250,\"height\":702,\"caption\":\"cost basis reporting\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/products\\\/cost-basis-reporting\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Altruist\",\"description\":\"Empowering RIAs to drive better client outcomes\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Altruist\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/logo-black-82-nofill.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/logo-black-82-nofill.svg\",\"width\":82,\"height\":24,\"caption\":\"Altruist\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/altruist\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/altruistcorp\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/altruist\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/altruist.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c7fbb80ddb16e9f685e828ee545db6f5\",\"name\":\"Ali Littman\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis - Altruist","description":"Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis - Altruist","og_description":"Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.","og_url":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/","og_site_name":"Altruist","article_published_time":"2021-09-17T00:09:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-09T17:53:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1250,"height":702,"url":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ali Littman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@altruist","twitter_site":"@altruist","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ali Littman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/"},"author":{"name":"Ali Littman","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c7fbb80ddb16e9f685e828ee545db6f5"},"headline":"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis","datePublished":"2021-09-17T00:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-09T17:53:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/"},"wordCount":392,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg","keywords":["Portfolio management","Reporting"],"articleSection":["Products"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/","url":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/","name":"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis - Altruist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-17T00:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-09T17:53:32+00:00","description":"Altruist has changed our default cost basis reporting to MinTax from FIFO. Learn about our commitment to transparent reporting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.prod.altruistnet.tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blog-Cover-214.jpg","width":1250,"height":702,"caption":"cost basis reporting"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/products\/cost-basis-reporting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Altruist Changed From FIFO to MinTax Cost Basis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/","name":"Altruist","description":"Empowering RIAs to drive better client outcomes","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#organization","name":"Altruist","url":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/logo-black-82-nofill.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/logo-black-82-nofill.svg","width":82,"height":24,"caption":"Altruist"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/altruist","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/altruistcorp\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/altruist"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c7fbb80ddb16e9f685e828ee545db6f5","name":"Ali Littman"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altruist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}