Do I need to report stocks I own on taxes if I didn't sell them?

You generally don't need to report stocks on your tax return just for owning them. The two main tax events with stocks are when you sell them (capital gains/losses) or when they pay dividends. If you didn't sell any stocks during the tax year, you don't have any capital gains or losses to report. However, for dividends, it's a different story. Many companies pay dividends directly into your brokerage account rather than sending physical checks. You should receive a Form 1099-DIV from your brokerage if any of your stocks paid dividends of $10 or more. I'd recommend logging into your brokerage account and checking your transaction history or statements for the past year. Look for any "dividend" entries. Also, check if you've received any 1099-DIV forms - these would typically be available in your account's tax documents section by late January/early February.

Went through something similar last year... my broker actually had all my tax forms online instead of mailing them. Definitely check your online account for any 1099-DIV forms. I also found this awesome tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out which of my stocks were actually paying dividends when I couldn't tell from my statements. You upload your brokerage statements and it identifies all the dividend payments, even the reinvested ones I didn't realize counted as taxable income. Saved me from accidentally underreporting and potentially triggering an audit. The tool also explained which of my stocks were dividend payers versus growth stocks that don't pay dividends.

Alright, I tried that taxr.ai site that was mentioned earlier. I was super skeptical but I gave it a shot with my Fidelity statements. Holy crap! Turns out I had like $180 in dividends from an ETF I completely forgot about. The statement had it buried in a weird section that didn't even look like dividend income. The tool highlighted exactly which stocks were paying dividends and which weren't. I've had these investments for years and never realized I was supposed to be reporting this income. My tax guy never asked specifically about dividends, just if I sold anything. Definitely correcting this for this year's filing!

If you're struggling to reach anyone at your brokerage to get answers about your dividend status or missing tax forms, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I had this exact issue last year when I couldn't get through to Vanguard's customer service about missing 1099 forms. Waited on hold for hours! Claimyr got me connected to a real person at my brokerage in about 15 minutes instead of the 2+ hour wait times I was facing. You can see how it works in this demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The rep confirmed I had dividend-paying stocks and helped me access the correct tax forms that weren't showing up in my online account. Turned out there was a settings issue preventing my tax documents from displaying properly. Would have never figured that out without actually speaking to someone!

Ok I have to admit I was completely wrong about that Claimyr service. After my skeptical comment I figured I'd try it since I needed to call Schwab about my dividend reinvestment plan and the tax implications. I've literally NEVER gotten through to Schwab in less than an hour. The Claimyr service had someone calling me back in 23 minutes with a Schwab rep on the line. Completely legit. The rep confirmed that even though I never "received" dividends as cash, some of my stocks were automatically reinvesting dividends which still counts as taxable income. Had no idea I needed to report that!

Something nobody has mentioned yet - if you have foreign stocks, you might need to report them regardless of whether you sold or received dividends. Foreign account reporting requirements can be triggered just by owning certain foreign stocks or funds over certain thresholds (like FBAR or Form 8938). I learned this the hard way when my accountant found out I had some European ETFs in my portfolio. The reporting requirements are completely different!

One more thing to consider - if you use a robo-advisor or any kind of managed account, they might be doing "tax-loss harvesting" where they automatically sell losing positions to offset gains. This happens behind the scenes sometimes and you'd need to report those sales even if you didn't manually sell anything yourself.

Great question! As others have mentioned, just owning stocks doesn't require reporting them on your tax return. The key things to watch for are: 1. **Dividends** - Even if you don't see cash payments, check your brokerage account thoroughly. Some brokers automatically reinvest dividends, which still counts as taxable income even though you never "received" cash. 2. **Check your brokerage's tax center** - Most brokers like Fidelity, Schwab, E*Trade, etc. have a dedicated tax documents section where 1099-DIV forms appear by late January/early February if you received $10+ in dividends. 3. **Look at your transaction history** - Search for terms like "dividend," "reinvestment," or "DRIP" (Dividend Reinvestment Plan). These show up as separate line items. Since you mentioned you're not sure about dividends and don't check frequently, I'd definitely recommend logging into your brokerage account and reviewing the past year's activity. Many people are surprised to discover they had dividend income they weren't aware of. If you find any dividend payments (even small ones), you'll need to report them as income on your tax return. The good news is that if you truly didn't sell anything and have no dividends, then there's nothing stock-related to report this year!

Just wanted to add one more point that might be relevant - if you're using any tax software like TurboTax or FreeTaxUSA, they'll typically ask you about investment income even if you didn't sell anything. Don't skip over those sections! I made that mistake a few years ago thinking "I didn't sell, so I'll skip the investment section" and ended up missing about $85 in dividend income from a mutual fund. The IRS caught it because my broker had already reported the 1099-DIV with my SSN on it. Got a nice little letter asking for the additional tax plus interest. The key lesson: even if you're a buy-and-hold investor like it sounds like you are, always check the investment/dividend sections of your tax software. It's much easier to catch these things upfront than deal with IRS correspondence later!