Posted By:
Jim VBBob,
You're getting way too deep into this.
Mastro's plan is that if you sell in their December auction, you can elect which year you want to be paid 2008 or 2009 (or presumably later years if you wanted.) You could then have the gain from the sale be offset by passive losses you may have in the chosen year.
I'm not an accountant, but my thinking is that the IRS would determine your gain was in the year of the auction not the year of the settlement. That would be in line with their current thinking on other capital gains.