Expert: Steven Taylor - 2/24/2011

Question
I worked as a driver for Budget Waste in calgary from 2006-2009, My overtime hours were paid out in company shares, I do not know how much I paid for my shares, I have contacted the Holladay stock transfer agent, they said they don't have that information. I have made several attempts to contact Jim Can the CEO of the company with no success.  I can only guess how much I paid for my shares, but I don't think that is going to work for a tax write off.  Who can I contact to find out the stock quote for my stocks on the dates of issue.

Answer
Raymond, this is a difficult issue to sort out. Since the company is bankrupt and was non-reporting by trading on the Pink Sheets, it is hard to determine what you were paid from the day to day information available. The best suggestion I can make is that you should see if you have your pay sheet information and can determine when you were paid those shares and cross-reference it against the historical trading prices for the company's stock on the same days. Otherwise, you will likely have to try to reconstruct to the best of your ability the value based on when you were granted shares.

Besides checking your records for your pay information, I suggest contacting a broker and see if they can provide you with daily (or weekly) trading data for Budget on the Pink Sheets, which will at least give you price data you will need for your reconstruction.