How to Calculate a Total Loss
Total loss is the amount you've lost on a real estate purchase, stocks or any other business venture. Total loss takes into consideration your initial investment, additional dollars invested and your final selling price. The good news is that in certain cases, your total loss may be deducted on your income tax return. A common loss experienced by many is in the stock market. Here's how to calculate total loss on stock investments.
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Instructions
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Calculate the purchase price of your stock. If you purchased 100 shares of IBM at $75 per share, your purchase price is $7,500.
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Include the broker commission you paid to purchase the stock. If you paid your broker a 5 percent commission, multiply that by $7,500. Your total commission paid to your broker equals $375.
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Add your total stock purchase price to the commission you paid your broker to come up with a total purchase price. Your total cost as used in the above example equals $7,875.
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Multiply your sell price by the number of shares you're selling. This will help you determine if you've made a profit or a loss on your investment. If you sell all 100 shares at $50 per share you'll receive $5,000.
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Calculate your broker commission to sell your stock. If your broker charges 5 percent to sell your stock, multiply 5 percent times $5,000. The commission paid to sell your stock equals $250. Subtract $250 from $5,000 to get $4,750. This is obviously a loss on your stock investment.
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Calculate your total loss. Subtract your total purchase price from your final selling total. $7,875 subtracted by $4,750 equals a total loss of $3,125.
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