Question

When you buy and sell stock you have to account for your profit or loss on your income taxes and what taxes you pay depends on how long you held the stock. So, knowing when you purchased a stock and how much you paid is a question your tax preparer will ask. (Make sure you keep a record of this.) Most of you will be in this position within a few years so this is a little introduction.

Write a script that will respond for a purchase according to the following:

• Enter the purchase date of the stock
• Enter the purchase price of the stock
• Enter the sale date
• Enter the sale price
• If the sale is a loss (sale price – purchase price is negative)
  • assign a variable Tax_Credit for this amount.
  • If the sale is a winner, Tax_Credit = 0.
• Use the function datenum( ) to determine the period that you owned the stock. You used this in a previous exercise.
  • Assign a variable for Tax owed
  • If the Tax_Credit > 0 then Tax = 0
  • If the period that you owned the stock is greater than 3 years then
    • Tax = 0.15 * (sale price – purchase price)
    • This is “long term capital gains tax”
  • If the period is less than 3 years then
    • Tax = 0.25 * (sale price – purchase price)
    • This is “short term capital gains tax” taxed as ordinary income
  • Use fprintf() statements to tell which scenario applied and repeat the appropriate information in the fprintf( ).

Answer 1

struct Date
{
int d, m, y;
};
  
const int monthDays[12] = {31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30,
31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31};

int countLeapYears(Date d)
{
int years = d.y;

if (d.m <= 2)
{
years--;
}
return years / 4 - years / 100 + years / 400;
}

int getDifference(Date dt1, Date dt2)
{
long int n1 = dt1.y*365 + dt1.d;

for (int i=0; i<dt1.m - 1; i++)
{
       n1 += monthDays[i];
}

n1 += countLeapYears(dt1);

long int n2 = dt2.y*365 + dt2.d;
for (int i=0; i<dt2.m - 1; i++)
{
   n2 += monthDays[i];
}
n2 += countLeapYears(dt2);

return (n2 - n1);
}

int main()
{
   Date dt1, dt2;
   double purchasePrice, salePrice, Tax_Credit, priceDiff, tax;
   cout << "Enter the purchase date of the stock [d m yyyy]: ";
   cin >> dt1.d >> dt1.m >> dt1.y;

   cout << "Enter the purchase price of the stock: ";
   cin >> purchasePrice;

   cout << "Enter the sale date [d m yyyy]: ";
   cin >> dt2.d >> dt2.m >> dt2.y;

   cout << "Enter the sale price: ";
   cin >> salePrice;

   if((priceDiff = salePrice - purchasePrice) < 0)
   {
       Tax_Credit = priceDiff;
   }
   else
   {
       Tax_Credit = 0.0f;
   }
  
   if(Tax_Credit > 0)
   {
       tax = 0;
   }

   char str[100] = {'\0'};
   double dateDiff = static_cast<double>(getDifference(dt1, dt2)/365);
   if(dateDiff > 3.0) //Greater than 3 years
   {
       tax = 0.15 * priceDiff;
       strcpy(str, "long term capital gains tax");
   }
   else
   {
       tax = 0.25 * priceDiff;
       strcpy(str, "short term capital gains tax");
   }

   FILE *fptr = fopen("TaxCalculator.txt", "w");
   if(nullptr == fptr)
   {
       cout << "Unable to open file." << endl;
   }
   else
   {
       fprintf(fptr, "%s is: $%f\n", str, tax);
   }
   fclose(fptr);
  
   return 0;
}