If a delisted company can return to stability and meet the listing criteria, it may re-list later. A company may also voluntarily delist shares due to a merger or acquisition, going private, or if it feels that the costs outweigh the benefits to remain listed.
The delisted company would have to avoid bankruptcy, solve the issue that forced the delisting, and again become compliant with the exchange's standards. What's more common than a relisting is that a delisted company goes bankrupt and the delisted stock becomes worthless.
If someone misses applying for the delisting, they can tender the shares offline directly to the company, and the company will buy them back. Shareholders will have a one-year period from the date of unlisting to tender the shares to the company.
The only thing delisting does is that the stock doesn't trade on whatever exchange it got delisted from. It would still exist and you would still own it. No one is going to pay you out. It would trade over the counter.
In this case, promoters are required to buy back the shares at the value determined by an independent evaluator. Though delisting does not affect your ownership, shares may not hold any value post-delisting. Thus, if any of the stocks that you own get delisted, it is better to sell your shares.
If the security cannot be sold in the market, it may be possible to dispose of the worthless security by gifting it to another person who can be related or unrelated to you. If you gift the worthless security to a family member, you will need to ensure that the person is not your spouse or minor child.
If you still hold shares after they are delisted, you can sell them—just not on the exchange on which they traded before. Stock exchanges are very advantageous for buying and selling shares. When they delist and trade over the counter (OTC), selling shares and getting a reasonable price for them becomes much harder.
Report losses due to worthless securities on Schedule D of Form 1040 and fill out Part I or Part II of Form 8949.
So though the shares are not traded on the stock exchanges after delisting, they are still there in your demat account. So, delisting cannot amount to extinguishment of the shares or your rights in the shares.
You should also know that delisting doesn't impact the number of shares you hold or whether you still have a stake in the company, it just impacts where those shares trade. Delisted shares may continue to trade over-the-counter, which could reduce liquidity and lead to less transparency from the company.
If you own a stock where the company has declared bankruptcy and the stock has become worthless, you can generally deduct the full amount of your loss on that stock — up to annual IRS limits with the ability to carry excess losses forward to future years.
When a stock is delisted, it can no longer be bought or sold on the exchange. However, it may still be possible to trade the shares over-the-counter (OTC) or through private transactions, depending on the circumstances.
When a stock is delisted, options trading on that stock typically ceases. This means that options holders are no longer able to buy or sell their options on the open market. However, they still have the right to exercise their options if they choose to do so.
A company whose shares have been delisted from an exchange, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, could potentially apply to get them relisted once again. However, the relisting process can be very challenging and may even require the company to meet all of the listing requirements once again.
If a stock is untradeable on Robinhood, you won't be able to buy or sell shares of it.
Only through off-market transactions can the investor get rid of such shares. These investors can contact specialised brokers who deal with unlisted shares.
Answer: If you own securities, including stocks, and they become totally worthless, you have a capital loss but not a deduction for bad debt. Worthless securities also include securities that you abandon.
Under the wash sale rule, your loss is disallowed for tax purposes if you sell stock or other securities at a loss and then buy substantially identical stock or securities within 30 days before or 30 days after the sale.
Trading After Delisting
It is rare that a delisted stock will get itself back on to the more traditional exchanges. To do so, it would have to avoid bankruptcy, solve the issue that forced the delisting, and again become compliant with the exchange's standards.
You must fill out IRS Form 8949 and Schedule D to deduct stock losses on your taxes.
In many cases you cannot liquidate a worthless stock because it is no longer traded. You can abandon the shares by calling your broker and having them remove the shares from your account. Abandoning your stock means you are giving up all of your rights to the stock.
You can go down the liquidation route and sell excess inventory to organizations that specialize in taking on dead stock items.
The delisting of shares results in the impossible selling of shares until the company goes through the exit route. It is effectively irrecoverable and is a loss to the taxpayer. Once the company goes through liquidation or is referred to NCLT under IBC, NCLT declares the company to drop the shares and claim the loss.