GlossaryIntermediate
LIFO
Last In, First Out — an accounting method assuming the most recently acquired units are sold first.
Last In, First Out (LIFO) is an accounting method that assumes the most recently acquired units of an asset are the ones considered sold first, the opposite assumption from FIFO.
Different accounting methods can produce meaningfully different calculated gains or losses from the exact same underlying set of transactions — this is general education, not personalized tax advice, and availability of specific methods varies by jurisdiction.
Examples
- Under LIFO, the most recently purchased units are treated as the ones sold in a given transaction.
- LIFO and FIFO can produce different calculated gains from an identical set of underlying trades.