Question on wash sale of stock

I have a quick question on wash sale of stock. I bought and sold a stock this year that I am taking a $2,555 loss on this years taxes. My question is if I sold the stock then bought a different stock, not the same stock, does wash sale rules apply? I know you can't take the loss on taxes if you sold the stock and boought the same stock back, but what if you bought a different stock, can you still take the loss?

The rule is that you can not purchase "substantially the same" security within 30 days before or after the sale. If it's a different company's stock, that's substantially different, so you should be fine.

Thank you. I think I now understand the washing requirement better. But what if a business I am a shareholder in completely closes it's doors and goes out of existence? I am unable to sell that stock, I purchased it with funds inside my tax exempt 401k plan. Am I able to use that loss as a tax deduction?

I appreciate your help.

Jermoll,

We can not take a capital loss on investments in our 401k or IRA type accounts.

Consider a taxable account, you do not have a capital loss until you sell the stock.

On the opposite side, you would not pay a capital gain tax when you sell a stock in your 401k/IRA and have a gain.

You may want to make some notes on this loss. Enron went out of business several years ago. There were some class action lawsuits. Now in December 2008 some folks are receiving payments from the class action suits. Because they had ENRON stock in their 401k/IRA, these payments should go to their 401k or IRA. In some situations those accounts have been moved to a new custodian or no longer exist. Putting the class action payment into the account may be difficult.

Record your basis and the time you made your stock purchase.
Record the date the company went out of business.
File this with long term records and never destroy these records.