How it works
A sale, not an argument.
A documented sale costs a flat $150 per position; DivestMe LLC buys the position for a nominal $1.00 under a counter-signed Asset Sale Agreement. The documentation is back within minutes of payment. Sixty seconds shows the whole thing. DivestMe documents the sale; what it means for your taxes is for you and your advisor.
Captioned. No sound until you press play.
Three steps. You do the first two.
Nothing is mailed, notarized or filed. Everything happens in your account, and everything you sign is shown to you in full before you sign it.
Submit the position
- You
- Name the company, the asset type, what you hold and what you paid. If it's anything other than common stock, confirm you can validly assign it. Confirm that the sale is final, that you own the position or act for its owner with their authority, and, if you already have a sale of the same holding on record, that this one is a separate holding.
- We
- Pull the public record on the company — state registration, SEC and bankruptcy filings, domain and web activity — and show you the sources.
Review and sign
- You
- Your submission is staged as a proposed disposition — no transaction has occurred yet. Read the Asset Sale Agreement in full, exhibits included. Send the Proposed Disposition Summary to your advisor first, if you like; it stays staged for up to 12 months. Tell us whether the company has consented to the transfer. If it hasn't, you can give us a contact and we'll take it up with the company for you. When you're ready, adopt a signature and sign.
- We
- Counter-sign as the buyer. A documented sale costs a flat $150 per position, disclosed before signature; we buy the position for a nominal $1.00. If you give us a contact, take it up with the company for you after you sign and hold the sale, uncharged, for up to a week. When the reply-by date passes, you can complete the sale or keep waiting.
Documented
- You
- Nothing. It's in your email and your account.
- We
- Deliver the counter-signed agreement, the Certificate of Completion and a preparer record, with a contract ID and a SHA-256 hash anyone can verify.
A flat $150 per position. No contingency, no percentage, no upfront-then-more.
The fee is disclosed before you sign and listed separately in the record. Whether it counts as a selling expense on Form 8949 is your advisor’s call. The one dollar we pay you is consideration, not a valuation: there is no market, no price discovery and no recovery of value.
Why a sale
“Worthless” is an argument. A sale is an event.
A worthlessness position asks your return to carry a judgment about a company. An abandonment asks it to carry your own declaration. A completed sale gives it a date, a counterparty and a document. Which one belongs on your return is your call, and your CPA’s.
What each path settles on its own
Who owns it now?
- Worthlessness claim §165(g)
You still do.
Open- Abandonment §1.165-5(i)
No one, by your letter.
Open- A sale to DivestMe §1001
A named buyer, on record.
Settled
What’s the date?
- Worthlessness claim §165(g)
The year it became worthless.
You identify it.
Open- Abandonment §1.165-5(i)
Last day of the tax year.
By rule.
Settled- A sale to DivestMe §1001
The date on the agreement.
Settled
Does it cover a SAFE, a note, an LLC unit?
- Worthlessness claim §165(g)
It depends.
The rule names stock and certain corporate debt.
Open- Abandonment §1.165-5(i)
It depends.
Same definition of “security.”
Open- A sale to DivestMe §1001
Yes.
A sale covers any property.
Settled
What does it ask of the founder?
- Worthlessness claim §165(g)
A letter saying it’s dead.
The one they don’t want to write — or won’t, because they’re still “exploring options.”
Open- Abandonment §1.165-5(i)
Receive your notice and cancel the shares.
Then do it for every investor.
Open- A sale to DivestMe §1001
At most one email asking for consent.
Settled
What if the founder says it still has prospects?
- Worthlessness claim §165(g)
Contradicts the claim.
Open- Abandonment §1.165-5(i)
Contradicts the surrender.
The regulation weighs it.
Open- A sale to DivestMe §1001
Doesn’t matter.
The founder keeps whatever it becomes.
Settled
What does your preparer get?
- Worthlessness claim §165(g)
Whatever you can assemble.
Open- Abandonment §1.165-5(i)
A copy of your letter.
Open- A sale to DivestMe §1001
Counter-signed agreement, certificate, preparer record.
Settled
Settled— by the path itself.Open— for you and your advisor to establish.
Deductibility is a separate question on every path.
Selling or abandoning a startup position, side by side →
DivestMe documents transactions and does not provide tax, legal, or financial advice. The white paper walks through both positions for tax professionals.
What you receive
The document is the product.
One sealed PDF of about eight pages — agreement, exhibits, certificate and preparer record — saved to your account and sent to your email.
Asset Sale Agreement
Names the seller, the buyer, the position and the price. Counter-signed by DivestMe, LLC. Exhibits attached.
Certificate of Completion
One page. The contract ID, the signed date, and the SHA-256 hash of the executed agreement. It certifies completion of the sale — not any tax outcome.
Preparer Record
Facts only, for your CPA: sale date, asset, issuer, cost basis as you stated it, sale price. No conclusion.
Traceable by anyone
Paste a contract ID at divest.me/verify and get back the signed date and the hash of the sealed document. Your preparer doesn’t have to take your word for it, or ours.
Verify a contractFAQ
The questions a careful person asks.
If yours isn’t here, the white paper is the long version. Your advisor is welcome to write to us directly.
Ready to let it go?
Five minutes to submit. Documentation within minutes of payment. A flat $150 per position; DivestMe buys it for $1.00.