Danaher spun off Fortive effective July 2, 2016 in a transaction meant to be tax-free to its shareholders. Fortive began normal trading on the NYSE Tuesday, July 5, 2016.

The cost basis allocation information is from IRS form 8937. A link to this form can be found on the Danaher web site at https://investors.danaher.com/FTV-cost-basis-allocation. Click on the PDF file icon to view the guidance letter for Danaher shareholders and a copy of IRS form 8937. In their example, Danaher used the average of the high and low prices on July 5, 2016 to calculate the cost basis allocation.

This action is a simple spinoff transaction in the accounting software.  The information below is based on the information available from the cost basis allocation information on the Danaher web site.

The Spinoff Entry

Go to Transactions > Spinoff  or Accounting > Securities > Record spinoff of securities depending on the version of the software being used. If you are unfamiliar with spinoff transactions you can get help at this URL: https://www.iclub.com/support/kb/default.asp?page=normal_spinoff

Here is the information you need to complete the spinoff.

Date: 7/2/2016

Select Parent Security (or Parent Company) : Danaher (DHR)

Remaining Basis Percentage: 76.2705

Cash received:  See your broker statement for cash-in-lieu received

Spinoff  Security (or Symbol of New Company) : Fortive Corp  (FTV)

 Shares received : 0.5 x (# of DHR  shares owned)   (Remember to include fractional shares.)

For example, if you owned 100 DHR shares, you should receive 0.5 x 100 = 50  FTV shares.

Price Per Share : 49.11  (Average of high and low price on 7/5/2016)  

Save the transaction and the spinoff has been entered.

NOTE:

The cost basis allocation is dependent on the prices used for both Danaher and Fortive in the cost basis calculations. In our experience brokers tend to use the prices found in the guidance companies post on their websites including IRS form 8937. If your broker does not use that guidance, the cost basis of the companies involved as recorded in your accounting records and in your broker’s records will not match. This is not cause for concern. This is just due to the inexact nature of the tax code in this regard. Partnership tax returns have specific areas to reconcile these usually small differences. ICLUBcentral tax printer software automatically fills in these adjustments in the normal operation of the software using the data imported from your accounting records and that you enter from your 1099.