I have a joint brokerage account with my two brothers. We would like to change the reporting SSN prior to selling stock with a capital loss to that of my brother who has capital gains. Can we do this? Are there negative consequences?

You need to determine if one of you is considered the true owner of the account - this would be the person who contributed the money to the account and is intended to have control of the assets and its proceeds. This is the person whose name and SSN should be listed as the primary owner. You shouldn't simply change the primary owner to take advantage of a capital loss - the IRS will take a dim view of your trying to manipulate the primary ownership to avoid paying taxes.

If you are each true co-owners, in that each of you has contributed to the account and your intention is to split the proceeds, then it gets complicated. You should each be reporting your fair share of the inerest, dividends, stock sales etc each year, basd on how much each of you contributed to the account. The primary owner (the one listed first on the account) should include documenation with his return showing the names and SSN's of the joint owners and how much has been assigned to each - this is to show the IRS why the amounts he reports on his taxes are different than what is shown on the 1099 forms from the financial institution.

If I may ask - why did you set up a joint account? Usually joint accounts are for married couples, or an elderly parent with an adult child who can "help out" with managing the parent's money.

TaxChallenged2:

Everything ebaines says is true. Your situation SCREAMS for professional tax advice by a local competent tax professional with experience filing returns that involve stock transactions.