Arcosa (ACA) from Trinity Industries (TRN)

Trinity Industries spun off Arcosa effective November 1, 2018 in a transaction meant to be tax-free to its shareholders. Arcosa began normal trading on the NYSE on Thursday, November 1, 2018.

The cost basis allocation information used in these instructions is from IRS form 8937, originally found in the Investor Relations area of the Trinity Industries web site. 

In their 8937, Trinity Industries gives 3 examples of calculating the cost basis allocation. The examples use opening price, closing price or average of the highest and lowest prices of the companies on 11/1/2018 to calculate cost basis allocation. These instructions use the cost basis allocation based on the average price used in Trinity’s form 8937.

 

This action is a standard spinoff transaction in the accounting software.  The information below is based on the information available from the cost basis allocation information on the Trinity Industries 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: 11/1/2018

Select Parent Security (or Parent Company) : Trinity Industries (TRN)

Remaining Basis Percentage: 71.27

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

Spinoff  Security (or Symbol of New Company) : Arcosa Corp  (ACA)

 Shares received : 0.333333 x (# of TRN  shares owned)   (Remember to include fractional shares.)

For example, if you owned 100 TRN shares, you should receive 0.333333 x 100 = 33.3333 ACA shares.

Price Per Share : 26.35  (Average of highest and lowest price on 11/1/2018)                                

Save the transaction and the spinoff has been entered.

 

NOTE:

The cost basis allocation is dependent on the prices used for both Trinity Industries and Arcosa 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.