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Cost Basis Guide

Guide

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Why Is Knowing Your Cost Basis Important?

Knowing the cost basis of your AT&T Inc. shares is necessary for tax-reporting purposes when you sell or otherwise dispose of the shares.

The cost basis is how much you paid for your shares after you take into account stock splits, acquisitions and other events. In general, your taxable gain or loss is the difference between your cost basis and the price you receive when you sell the shares, minus brokerage fees.

What You Need to Know to Calculate Your Cost Basis?

To determine your cost basis, you need to know the original price paid for the shares, the date you acquired them and how you acquired them.

  • You may have become an AT&T Inc. stockholder or acquired additional shares through open-market purchases by participating in The DirectSERVICE Investment Program (or one of its predecessor plans) or through employee plans.
  • You may have received your shares in exchange for shares you held in Ameritech, AT&T Corp., BellSouth, DIRECTV, Pacific Telesis, Southern New England Telecommunications or Time Warner. See Events | AT&T (att.com) for a list of events that impact your cost basis.
  • Or you may have acquired your shares as a result of AT&T's Corporation's Jan. 1, 1984, divestiture of Southwestern Bell and six other regional operating companies.

Additionally, the cost basis of your AT&T common stock was impacted by the completion of the WarnerMedia/Discovery transaction, which closed on April 8, 2022, and resulted in AT&T common stockholders receiving an ownership interest in Warner Bros. Discovery common stock. See news release for further information.

To get started, go to How to calculate your cost basis and choose the appropriate worksheet to help make your calculation.

You'll need your personal records, bank or brokerage statements, inheritance or gift records or dividend reinvestment statements to help determine your cost basis.

If you acquired shares through the Direct Stock Purchase and Reinvestment Plan (which is now called The DirectSERVICE Investment Program for Stockholders of AT&T Inc.) or employee plans, you may also determine the tax basis of shares from plan statements.

Additional information about calculating cost basis and gains and losses may be found in IRS Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses.

For information regarding The DirectSERVICE program or other stockholder information requests, call Computershare at 1-800-351-7221 or you may obtain stockholder information at www.computershare.com/att. We also recommend that you consult your tax adviser.