Does tax loss harvesting work on options premium?

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frugalor
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Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:35 am

Does tax loss harvesting work on options premium?

Post by frugalor »

Does tax loss harvesting work on options premium on these two scenarios?

1) sell a covered call option and receive $100 in premium. the option expired.

2) sell a covered call option and receive $100 in premium. then buy the option back paying $30. so the net is $70.

I have a capital loss of $100. In which scenario can I offset my capital loss with the net premium?

For context, my goal is to reduce investment income.
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grabiner
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Re: Does tax loss harvesting work on options premium?

Post by grabiner »

The premium for an option is used for computing the capital gain or loss. This, in both of your examples, your entire gain is a capital gain and you can offset it with capital losses. (An option which expires is treated as having been closed for $0, so the buyer has a capital loss and the writer a capital gain equal to the premium.)
Wiki David Grabiner
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