[Rick Lee]

I did my wife's taxes the other night and was pretty frustrated by some of the stock transaction papers. The one with the dates of sale and sales price has big boldface print saying, "This information is being furnished to the IRS." But the other sheet with the purchase date and price reads that it's "For your records only. Not being reported to the IRS." Why? How does the IRS know whether you had a cap. gain or loss, if they only know the sales date and price?