Purchased a call option that is OTM do i need to sell it for a loss or let it expire for tax benefit?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Al S Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/166148 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. I bought an $80 call for $5. The stock is now $35 and this call is very likely to expire worthless. If I let it expire worthless, will the broker report that as a realized loss? Or do I need to sell to close (STC) the call (now $1.00) to book the $4.00 loss? I am asking this because I have many gains to offset, and I would like to take advantage of this tax benefit. TIA

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: user103944 Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/166150 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. It will be reported as a loss in both cases. The only difference would be the amount of the loss $4 or $5.