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In general, investments in corporations result in capital losses only when the corporationβs stock is completely worthless. The βcompletely worthlessβ test can require that the company be completely dissolved and wound up.* Even if the corporation is nearly dead, it still may not be dead enough for you to take a loss. One way to take the loss on a nearly defunct company is to assign the shares for $1 to an unrelated third party. Some angel groups set up programs to facilitate these types of assignments.