The Dirty Wash Sale Problem

• Advisors may need a household perspective to manage investments effectively—maximizing tax efficiency while avoiding costly traps.
  
  
• Wash sales are examples of high-frequency, high-value tax problems that common solutions mishandle.

As with most Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, wash sales are more complicated than advisors expect. The critical—yet often overlooked—issue: wash sales apply across a household.¹

The costly trap:

• Sell a stock at a loss in a taxable account, rebuy in a spouse's account → loss disallowed, deferred to cost basis.²
  
  
• Rebuy in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or 401(k) → loss permanently forfeited.

Why most solutions fall short: Direct indexing and tax-loss harvesting tools typically optimize single accounts in isolation—blind to both investment and tax events happening in other accounts.

Our approach: We built our technology with true householding in mind—monitoring across all accounts to optimize investment risk, maximize asset location efficiency and prevent costly complications (like wash sales) before they happen.

Important Disclosures & Definitions

1 Internal Revenue Service. (2024). Publication 550: Investment Income and Expenses (Including Capital Gains and Losses) For Use in Preparing 2024 Returns. Department of the Treasury.

2 Ludman, A. (08/25/2025). Beware the wash sale rule. J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

AAI001009  10/07/2026