How the Wash Sale Rule Affects Your Stock Transactions

Think buying back a stock right after you sell at a loss is a clever tax move? Think again.

The wash sale rule blocks that quick trick: if you buy the same or substantially identical shares within 30 days before or after a loss sale, the IRS disallows the loss for that year.

The loss isn’t gone. It’s added to the cost basis of your new shares, which defers the tax benefit and can upend year-end harvesting across taxable accounts, IRAs, and even your spouse’s holdings.

Clear Definition of the Wash Sale Rule and Its Impact on Selling and Rebuying Stocks

The wash sale rule is an IRS regulation that stops you from claiming a capital loss on your tax return if you sell a security at a loss and then buy back the same (or basically the same) security within a specific time window. The purpose? Pretty simple. The IRS wants to prevent investors from gaming the system by creating artificial tax deductions while keeping the exact same investment position. Here’s the thing, though: the rule disallows your loss for the current tax year, but that loss isn’t gone forever. It gets deferred and added to the cost basis of whatever replacement shares you bought.

The wash sale window is 61 days total. That’s 30 calendar days before your sale, the day of the sale itself, and 30 calendar days after. If you buy the same stock (or something the IRS thinks is substantially identical) at any point during that stretch, your loss gets disallowed. This window doesn’t care about calendar years, it applies across all your accounts (yes, including IRAs and accounts your spouse holds), and it reaches across multiple brokerage firms. The rule doesn’t care whether you meant to trigger a wash sale. It’s purely mechanical and date-driven.

When you sell and rebuy stocks inside this window, you can’t use the loss to offset other capital gains or reduce your taxable income in the year of the sale. Instead, the disallowed loss rolls into the cost basis of the replacement shares, which defers the tax benefit until you sell those replacement shares in a future transaction that doesn’t trigger another wash sale. This can really mess with year-end tax planning and reduce how flexible your tax-loss harvesting strategies can be.

Most common actions that trigger an immediate wash sale:

• Selling shares of a stock at a loss and repurchasing the identical stock within 30 days after the sale
• Buying shares of a stock and then selling other shares of the same stock at a loss within the following 30 days
• Purchasing replacement shares in a different brokerage account (taxable or retirement) within the 61-day window
• Having your spouse buy the same stock in their account within 30 days before or after your loss sale
• Buying call options or entering into a contract to acquire the same security within the wash sale window
• Purchasing shares in an IRA or 401(k) within 30 days before or after selling the same stock at a loss in a taxable account

How the Wash Sale Rule Mechanically Works When Buying Back Shares

The wash sale rule operates through a three-part mechanical process. It calculates your realized loss from the sale, disallows that loss for current-year tax purposes, and then adjusts the cost basis and holding period of your replacement shares to preserve the loss for a future sale. When you sell stock at a loss, the normal calculation is straightforward: subtract your original cost basis from the sale proceeds. If you repurchase the same (or substantially identical) shares within the 61-day window, the IRS disallows the loss and adds the disallowed amount to the purchase price of your new shares. This basis adjustment means you’ll eventually recognize the loss when you sell the replacement shares, assuming you don’t trigger another wash sale at that time.

The holding period of your original shares also carries over to the replacement shares. Let’s say you held the sold shares for 200 days before selling at a loss, and then repurchased within the window. Those 200 days tack onto the holding period of the new shares. This affects whether your future gain or loss will be taxed as short-term (ordinary income rates) or long-term (preferential capital gains rates). Brokers typically track and report wash sales only within the same account and only for positions with the same CUSIP identifier. If you buy replacement shares at a different brokerage, in an IRA, or in a spouse’s account, your broker won’t flag the wash sale on your Form 1099-B. You’re responsible for identifying the trigger and adjusting your tax reporting manually.

Step-by-Step Mechanism

First, calculate the capital loss on the sale. Take your original cost basis (what you paid, including commissions) and subtract the sale proceeds (net of fees). If you sell 100 shares originally purchased at $50 per share for $40 per share, your realized loss is $1,000.

Next, identify any purchases of the same or substantially identical security made during the 61-day window. If you bought 100 shares back at $42 within that window, the entire $1,000 loss is disallowed for the current tax year.

Add the disallowed loss to the cost basis of the replacement shares. In the example above, your replacement shares have a purchase price of $4,200 (100 shares at $42), and the $1,000 disallowed loss is added to that, giving you a new cost basis of $5,200. When you eventually sell those replacement shares, your gain or loss will be measured against this higher basis.

Finally, carry over the holding period from the original shares to the replacement shares. This tacking makes sure that time already spent holding the position counts toward the one-year threshold for long-term capital gains treatment.

Substantially Identical Securities and Why They Matter in Wash Sale Rules

The term “substantially identical” is central to the wash sale rule, but the IRS has never published a precise legal definition or a complete list of what qualifies. In practice, the same stock (identical ticker and CUSIP number) is always substantially identical to itself. Selling 100 shares of Apple and buying 100 shares of Apple within the window is a clear wash sale. Beyond that, the determination relies on a facts-and-circumstances analysis focused on the material features of the securities involved. Identical preferred stock of the same class, bonds with the same issuer and maturity, and contracts or options that give you the right to acquire the same underlying security are all commonly treated as substantially identical.

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds add complexity. Two ETFs that track the exact same index using the same methodology (such as two S&P 500 ETFs from different fund families) may be considered substantially identical, though the IRS has not issued a definitive ruling. The safest approach is to treat funds with identical underlying portfolios and investment objectives as risky, even if they have different ticker symbols or expense ratios. Switching from a narrow-sector fund to a broad-market index fund, or from an S&P 500 ETF to a total U.S. stock market ETF, generally provides enough differentiation to avoid the rule. The holdings and weightings differ materially.

Option contracts, futures, and other derivatives can also trigger wash sales. Buying a call option on a stock you just sold at a loss, or entering into a forward contract to acquire the same shares, creates substantially identical exposure and will disallow your loss. Even purchasing shares of a different company in a related industry usually won’t trigger a wash sale. Selling ExxonMobil at a loss and buying Chevron is not substantially identical. But be cautious with instruments designed to replicate the same economic result, such as leveraged or inverse ETFs tracking the same benchmark.

Five common risk categories where substantially identical issues arise:

• Identical stock ticker and CUSIP purchased in any account (taxable brokerage, IRA, spouse’s account, or corporate account)
• Multiple ETFs or mutual funds that track the exact same index, even if issued by different fund companies
• Options contracts (calls or puts) on the same underlying stock or index
• Bonds with the same issuer, coupon, and maturity date, even if purchased through different brokers
• Derivative instruments (futures, swaps, structured notes) that replicate the economic exposure of the security you sold at a loss

Real-World Wash Sale Examples When Selling and Rebuying Stocks

Seeing the wash sale rule applied to specific dates and dollar amounts makes the mechanics much clearer and highlights how easy it is to accidentally trigger a disallowance. The key is to track both the sale date and any purchase activity during the full 61-day window: 30 days before the sale, the sale day itself, and 30 days after. Even one share purchased during that span can create a wash sale.

Example A: Post-Sale Repurchase

You sell 200 shares of XYZ Corporation on January 15 at $30 per share, realizing proceeds of $6,000. Your original cost basis for those 200 shares was $40 per share, or $8,000 total, so your capital loss is $2,000. On February 10 (26 days after the sale) you decide market conditions look better and repurchase 200 shares of XYZ at $32 per share, paying $6,400.

Because the repurchase falls within 30 days after the January 15 sale, the entire $2,000 loss is disallowed for the current tax year. The disallowed $2,000 is added to the $6,400 cost of your replacement shares, giving you a new cost basis of $8,400 for the 200 shares ($42 per share). The holding period you accumulated on the original 200 shares before selling on January 15 tacks onto the replacement shares, so the replacement shares are treated as if you’ve held them longer than just the February 10 purchase date. When you eventually sell the replacement shares (assuming you wait more than 30 days and don’t trigger another wash sale) you’ll measure your gain or loss against the $8,400 adjusted basis.

Example B: Pre-Sale Buy

On March 7, you purchase 100 shares of ABC Inc. at $25 per share in your taxable brokerage account, spending $2,500. On April 1 (25 days later) you sell a different lot of 100 shares of ABC that you’ve held in the same account for several months. That lot had an original cost basis of $35 per share, so when you sell at the current market price of $28 per share, you realize a $700 loss ($3,500 basis minus $2,800 proceeds).

Even though you sold a different lot, the March 7 purchase falls within the 30-day period before the April 1 loss sale, so the $700 loss is disallowed. The $700 is added to the cost basis of the 100 shares you bought on March 7, raising that basis from $2,500 to $3,200 ($32 per share). The holding period of the shares sold on April 1 carries over to the March 7 purchase, potentially converting what was a new short-term position into a longer-held position for tax purposes. This example shows that the wash sale window looks backward as well as forward. You can trigger the rule by buying before you sell.

Example C: Cross-Year Trigger

You sell 150 shares of DEF Corp. at a loss on December 28 of the current tax year. Your cost basis was $50 per share ($7,500 total), and you sell at $45 per share for proceeds of $6,750, creating a $750 realized loss. On January 10 of the following year (just 13 days later) you repurchase 150 shares of DEF at $46 per share ($6,900 total).

The wash sale rule doesn’t reset on January 1. Because the January 10 repurchase falls within 30 days after the December 28 sale, your $750 loss from the prior tax year is disallowed. You cannot use that loss on your tax return for the year you sold the shares. Instead, the $750 disallowed loss is added to the January 10 cost basis of $6,900, resulting in a new basis of $7,650 ($51 per share). The holding period from your original DEF shares sold in December tacks onto the January shares. This cross-calendar-year application is a common trap for investors doing last-minute tax-loss harvesting in late December without tracking what they buy in early January.

Four common misunderstanding scenarios:

• Believing the 30-day rule resets at year-end (it doesn’t; the 61-day window can span two tax years)
• Assuming that buying in a different account or different brokerage avoids the rule (all your accounts and related-party accounts count)
• Thinking a small purchase (like 10 shares) won’t matter (any substantially identical purchase during the window triggers disallowance on a proportional or total basis)
• Expecting your broker to catch and report all wash sales (brokers report only same-CUSIP, same-account transactions in many cases; cross-account wash sales are your responsibility to track and report)

Tax Consequences of Wash Sales for Active Investors

The immediate tax consequence of a wash sale is that you cannot claim the capital loss on your tax return for the year in which you sold the security. This disallowed loss doesn’t disappear. It’s deferred by being added to the cost basis of your replacement shares. But the timing shift can significantly affect your tax bill, especially if you were counting on the loss to offset capital gains or reduce taxable income in a high-income year. If you trigger a wash sale in December and were planning to use the loss to offset a large gain from earlier in the year, you’ll owe more tax than expected because the loss is pushed into the future.

The increased cost basis on your replacement shares means that when you eventually sell them, your taxable gain will be smaller (or your deductible loss will be larger) than it would have been without the wash sale adjustment. This preserves the economic value of the loss over time, but the tax benefit is postponed. For an investor who needs current-year loss recognition to manage tax liability, this deferral is a real problem. The holding period tacking rule also affects your tax outcome. If your original shares were long-term (held more than one year) and you sell at a loss, that holding period carries over to the replacement shares, which can push the replacement position into long-term status sooner and potentially qualify future gains for the lower long-term capital gains rate.

Active traders face compounded risks. If you buy and sell the same stock multiple times within short windows (common in day trading or volatility-driven strategies) you can create a chain of wash sales where losses are repeatedly disallowed and added to new replacement positions. Each new replacement purchase within 30 days of a loss sale creates another disallowed loss, and tracking the cumulative basis adjustments across multiple trades becomes complex. Failing to adjust your basis correctly on your tax return can result in overpaying tax (if you don’t claim the deferred loss when you finally sell) or underpaying (if you accidentally claim a loss twice), both of which can trigger IRS notices or audits.

Wash Sales Across Multiple Accounts, Spouses, and Retirement Accounts

One of the most common and costly mistakes investors make is triggering a wash sale by purchasing replacement shares in a different account, unaware that the rule applies across all accounts you control or are related to. The IRS looks at your entire investment footprint: your taxable brokerage accounts at multiple firms, any IRAs (traditional or Roth), and accounts held by your spouse. If you sell a stock at a loss in your taxable account at Broker A and your spouse buys the same stock in their taxable account at Broker B within the 61-day window, you’ve triggered a wash sale. The loss is disallowed, and the basis adjustment applies to your spouse’s shares (in theory), but tracking and reporting this correctly is your responsibility because neither broker will detect the cross-account activity.

Retirement accounts create an especially harsh outcome. If you sell a stock at a loss in your taxable brokerage account and then purchase the same stock in your traditional IRA or Roth IRA within the 30-day window (before or after the sale), the wash sale rule still applies. But because you cannot adjust the cost basis inside a tax-advantaged retirement account, the disallowed loss is effectively lost forever. You don’t get to defer it. You simply lose the tax benefit. This makes it critical to avoid any purchases of the same security in IRAs during the 61-day window around a taxable-account loss sale.

IRA & Retirement Account Pitfalls

Purchasing replacement shares in an IRA within the wash sale window triggers permanent disallowance of your loss because IRAs do not have a cost basis that can be adjusted. Traditional and Roth IRAs are tax-advantaged structures where contributions, gains, and basis tracking work entirely differently than in taxable accounts. When you contribute to a traditional IRA, the basis is generally not tracked because distributions are taxed as ordinary income. In a Roth IRA, contributions have already been taxed, and qualified distributions are tax-free. Neither account allows you to add a disallowed wash sale loss to the basis of the shares inside the account.

The result? If you sell Stock X at a $1,000 loss in your taxable account on March 1 and buy Stock X in your Roth IRA on March 15, the $1,000 loss is disallowed and you gain no future tax benefit from it. It’s gone. The only protection is to avoid buying the same or substantially identical security in any IRA or other retirement account during the 61-day window. Many brokers will not flag this cross-account wash sale on your 1099-B, so you must track it manually and correctly report the disallowed loss on Form 8949, even though you cannot recover the tax benefit later.

Spousal & Related-Party Transactions

Purchases by your spouse in their own account (even if it’s a separate brokerage or held in their name only) count as wash sale triggers under IRS rules. The rule treats you and your spouse as a single economic unit for this purpose. If you sell shares at a loss and your spouse buys the same shares within the window, your loss is disallowed and the basis adjustment technically applies to your spouse’s shares, creating a tracking and reporting burden. The same principle extends to entities you control, such as a corporation or partnership in which you hold a significant ownership stake. If the entity buys the same stock within the window, the wash sale rule can apply.

Tracking these related-party transactions is difficult because brokerage firms have no visibility into your spouse’s separate accounts or accounts at other institutions. The IRS expects you to identify and report these wash sales on your own. In practice, many investors miss spousal or cross-entity wash sales and either overclaim losses (risking an IRS adjustment and penalties) or fail to adjust basis properly and overpay tax in the future.

Five cross-account risk factors to monitor:

• Any taxable brokerage account you own at a different firm than where you sold at a loss
• Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and Solo 401(k)s in your name
• Your spouse’s taxable brokerage accounts, IRAs, and retirement plans
• Joint accounts held with your spouse or another family member
• Corporate or partnership accounts in which you are a significant owner or have control over investment decisions

Reporting Requirements for Wash Sales and Cost-Basis Adjustments

When a wash sale occurs, you must report it on IRS Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets, and carry the totals to Schedule D of your Form 1040. Brokers are required to report wash sales they detect on Form 1099-B, but they only track transactions within the same account and typically only for securities with the same CUSIP number. If you trigger a wash sale across different brokerage accounts, across taxable and retirement accounts, or involving a spouse’s account, your broker will not report it. You are responsible for identifying the wash sale and making the correct adjustments on your tax return.

On Form 8949, report the sale transaction on the appropriate line (short-term or long-term, depending on your holding period before the sale). In column (f), “Adjustments to gain or loss,” enter the disallowed loss amount as a positive number (which reduces your deductible loss or increases your gain) and use code “W” to indicate a wash sale adjustment. For example, if you sold shares for a $1,000 loss and repurchased within the window, your column (e) “Gain or loss” would show -$1,000, and your column (f) adjustment would be +$1,000 with code W, resulting in a net $0 recognized loss for that transaction. The disallowed $1,000 must then be added to the cost basis of your replacement shares, which you’ll report when you eventually sell those shares.

How to Fill In Form 8949 for Wash Sales

Start by gathering all your trade confirmations and 1099-B forms from every brokerage where you traded during the year, including any accounts where you purchased the same or substantially identical securities within 61 days of a loss sale. Cross-check purchase dates in all your accounts (taxable, IRA, and spouse’s) against each loss sale date to identify any wash sale triggers your broker didn’t report.

For each wash sale, enter the sale transaction on Form 8949 exactly as it appears on your 1099-B (description, date acquired, date sold, proceeds, cost basis). Then, in column (f), enter the disallowed loss amount and code “W”. If your broker already reported the wash sale on your 1099-B and included the adjustment, you may not need to make an additional entry. Verify that the “wash sale loss disallowed” figure on the 1099-B matches your calculation.

Calculate the adjusted cost basis for your replacement shares: take the purchase price you paid for the replacement shares and add the disallowed loss from the original sale. Document this adjusted basis in your own records (a spreadsheet or tax software) because you’ll need it when you sell the replacement shares. Your broker’s cost-basis tracking may not reflect this adjustment if the replacement shares were purchased at a different firm or in a different account type.

When you sell the replacement shares in a future year, report that sale on Form 8949 using the adjusted cost basis (original purchase price plus the disallowed loss you added). This makes sure you eventually claim the deferred loss. If you accidentally use the unadjusted basis, you’ll either overstate your gain or understate your loss, resulting in incorrect tax and potential IRS correspondence.

Strategies to Avoid Triggering Wash Sales While Rebuying Stocks

The simplest and safest approach is to wait at least 31 calendar days after selling a security at a loss before repurchasing the identical security. This completely eliminates wash sale risk for that transaction because the repurchase falls outside the 30-day post-sale window. The trade-off is that you’re out of the market for that stock during the waiting period, which exposes you to the risk that the price rises and you miss gains. For investors who want to maintain market exposure, the challenge is finding a replacement security that is similar enough to preserve your investment thesis but different enough to avoid being “substantially identical” under IRS rules.

One common approach is to replace the sold stock with an ETF or mutual fund that provides similar sector or market exposure but has different underlying holdings. For example, if you sell an individual technology stock at a loss, you could immediately buy a technology-sector ETF that holds a diversified basket of tech stocks, including the one you sold. Because the ETF holds many stocks and has a different structure and objective than a single stock, it’s generally not considered substantially identical. After 31 days, you can sell the ETF and buy back the original stock if you wish, without triggering a wash sale on the original transaction.

Another option is to use two similar but not identical ETFs or index funds and alternate between them during tax-loss harvesting. For instance, you might hold an S&P 500 ETF from one fund family, sell it at a loss, and immediately buy an S&P 500 ETF from a different fund family. While both track the same index, there is no definitive IRS guidance on whether this is a wash sale. Some tax professionals consider it risky because the economic exposure is nearly identical, while others view the different share classes and expense structures as enough differentiation. A safer version of this approach is to switch between funds that track different but overlapping indexes, such as moving from an S&P 500 fund to a total U.S. stock market fund, which includes small- and mid-cap stocks in addition to large caps.

Avoid making any purchase of the same security in an IRA, spouse’s account, or related-party account during the 61-day window. Even if you’re confident you can track the basis adjustment, the complexity and risk of error (especially with IRA purchases, where the loss is permanently disallowed) make it not worth the trouble. If you need to rebalance or add to a position across multiple account types, do it outside the 61-day window or use a clearly different security.

Six practical strategies to avoid wash sales:

• Wait 31 days: Sell the stock at a loss and mark your calendar to repurchase on day 31 or later, accepting the market-exposure gap in exchange for clean loss recognition
• Use a sector or broad-market ETF: Replace the individual stock with a diversified fund in the same sector or market segment; switch back to the stock after 31 days if desired
• Swap between different index funds: If holding index ETFs, move from one index to a different index (for example, S&P 500 to Russell 1000 or total market) to maintain equity exposure with enough differentiation
• Use tax-loss harvesting pairs: Identify in advance two similar but distinct funds (different indexes, issuers, or strategies) that you can swap between each year during rebalancing and loss harvesting
• Avoid all purchases in IRAs and spouse accounts during the window: Make it a blanket rule that any security sold at a loss in a taxable account cannot be purchased in any related account for 61 days
• Consolidate accounts at one brokerage: Simplifies tracking of wash sales and reduces the risk of accidental cross-account triggers, though you must still monitor IRA and spousal activity

Practical Application: Using the Wash Sale Rule to Improve Tax-Loss Harvesting Decisions

Successful tax-loss harvesting depends on understanding the wash sale rule and planning your trades to capture losses without triggering disallowance. The best practice is to track a 61-day window around every loss sale and document all purchase activity across every account you and your spouse control during that period. Most tax software and portfolio-tracking tools can help, but you remain responsible for the final determination, especially for cross-account and cross-institution activity that your broker won’t report.

Create a simple trade log or spreadsheet that lists every sale at a loss, the sale date, the 30-day pre-sale start date, the 30-day post-sale end date, and any purchases of the same or substantially identical securities within that span. Review this log before making any new purchases, especially during the November-to-January period when many investors are harvesting losses for year-end tax planning. If you realize you’ve already bought replacement shares within the window, you can choose to sell those shares immediately (before the loss sale, to avoid triggering the rule) or accept that the loss will be disallowed and plan to use the adjusted basis on the replacement shares in a future year.

Behavioral discipline is critical. Many wash sale violations happen because an investor sells a stock at a loss with the intention of claiming the tax benefit, then impulsively buys the same stock a week later when the price dips further or news breaks. Automated investment plans (such as dividend reinvestment programs (DRIPs) or recurring purchases in a 401(k) or IRA) can also trigger wash sales if they purchase the same security you just sold at a loss in a taxable account. Disable or pause any automatic purchases of a stock during the 61-day window around a planned loss sale.

Checklist for Investors

Before selling any security at a loss, confirm that you have not purchased the same or substantially identical security in the prior 30 days in any account (taxable, IRA, spouse, joint, or corporate). Check trade confirmations, account statements, and any automatic investment or reinvestment programs.

After selling at a loss, mark your calendar for 31 days and commit not to repurchase the identical security until that date. If you need continued exposure to that sector or asset class, identify a suitable replacement ETF or fund that is not substantially identical and purchase it immediately after the loss sale.

Document the disallowed loss amount and add it to the cost basis of any replacement shares purchased within the window. Store this adjusted basis in a spreadsheet or tax records so you can report it correctly when you sell the replacement shares in a future year.

Review all accounts before year-end (mid-December at the latest) to identify any loss positions you want to harvest and any positions where you’ve already triggered a wash sale earlier in the year. This allows time to plan replacement purchases or waiting periods without crossing into the new tax year unintentionally.

Communicate with your spouse (if applicable) about any trades they plan to make in late December or early January that might overlap with your loss-harvesting activity. A simple shared calendar or trade notification can prevent accidental spousal wash sales.

If you use multiple brokerage firms, consolidate your year-end trade records from all firms and cross-check purchase and sale dates. Brokers do not share data with each other, so you must manually verify that no cross-broker wash sales occurred.

After filing your tax return, retain all trade confirmations, adjusted-basis calculations, and Form 8949 worksheets for at least three years (preferably longer) in case the IRS questions a basis adjustment or disallowed loss in a future audit.

Final Words

We laid out the wash sale rule: the 61-day window, what “disallowed loss” means, and how that loss gets added to your replacement shares’ cost basis.

You saw mechanics, dated numeric examples, cross-account traps (IRAs, spouse accounts), and the basics of reporting on Form 8949.

Use practical steps—wait 31 days, pick non-substantially identical replacements, track trades, and follow a checklist. That’s how the wash sale rule affects selling and rebuying stocks: it can defer losses and change future tax outcomes, but clear rules and simple tracking keep surprises small and savings real.

FAQ

Q: Does the wash sale rule apply if you sell at a gain?

A: The wash sale rule applies only when you sell at a loss, not a gain. If you sell at a gain, you owe tax on the gain and no wash‑sale disallowance applies.

Q: Can I sell a stock and buy it back the same day?

A: You can sell and rebuy the same day, but if you sold at a loss and repurchased within 30 days it creates a wash sale and disallows that loss. Wait 31 days or use a different ETF to avoid it.

Q: What happens if I accidentally trigger a wash sale?

A: If you accidentally trigger a wash sale, the loss is disallowed and added to the replacement shares’ cost basis; the holding period carries over. Adjust your records and report the change on Form 8949.

Q: Is a wash sale bad for stocks?

A: A wash sale isn’t bad for the stock itself; it’s a tax rule that denies a loss deduction when you repurchase substantially identical shares within 30 days. It affects tax timing, not market value.