Canada's Most Complete
ACB Calculator
for Every Investor

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Your first calculation is free.
Superficial Loss Detection
FX Gain Tracking
Multi-Account Support
Files Kept 7 Days Max

How It Works

Three steps from broker export to filing-ready report.

Step 1
Export from your broker
Download your full trading history from Interactive Brokers as a Flex Query XML, from Questrade as an Activity Report XLSX, from Wealthsimple as an activity CSV, from CIBC Investor's Edge as a Transaction History CSV, from TD Direct Investing as an activity CSV, from Qtrade as an account history XLSX, or from National Bank Direct Brokerage as an activity history CSV. For any other broker, download your trade-history CSV or XLSX and map its columns once. No manual data entry needed.
Step 2
Upload and calculate
Drop your file into ActiveACB. The engine applies every major CRA ACB rule automatically: pooling, superficial loss detection, FX tracking, options, and corporate actions.
Step 3
Download your report
Download a PDF filing summary, an XLSX report with the full disposition breakdown, and a JSON data file. Review the numbers and file with confidence.

What this adjusted cost base calculator does

ActiveACB is an adjusted cost base calculator for Canadian investors. It reads the trade history your broker already exports, rebuilds the ACB of every security you have held across all of your accounts, and turns the result into the proceeds, adjusted cost base, outlays, and gain or loss that Schedule 3 asks for on each disposition.

The engine applies the rules a spreadsheet makes you remember. Identical securities pool under section 47 no matter which account they sit in. Sales at a loss are checked against the 61-day superficial loss window, including repurchases in a TFSA or RRSP. Every US dollar trade converts at the Bank of Canada rate for its own date. Return of capital and reinvested distributions from more than 200 Canadian ETFs adjust the pool from verified issuer data, and option assignments are applied automatically. Corporate actions are read from the export where it carries them. That covers splits, mergers and standard cost-base spinoffs in an Interactive Brokers file, splits and consolidations in a Wealthsimple file, and share-exchange mergers in a Questrade file. Any other event is flagged for review, and you enter it once in the corporate-action builder.

It works from Interactive Brokers, Questrade, Wealthsimple, CIBC Investor's Edge, TD Direct Investing, Qtrade and National Bank Direct Brokerage exports natively, and from any other broker's CSV or XLSX through the column mapper. Your first calculation is free, and the adjusted cost base guide explains every rule the calculator applies, with worked examples you can check by hand.

Is there a free ACB calculator for Canada?

Yes. Every ActiveACB account gets one free calculation with full results on screen, so you can check your own numbers before paying anything. Paid season access adds PDF and XLSX downloads, unlimited recalculations, and multi-file uploads. See pricing.

Why is my broker's book cost different from the ACB this calculator gives?

Book cost is a performance figure. It usually ignores superficial losses, return of capital, reinvested distributions, and trades in your other accounts, and the CRA says the cost figure on a T5008 may not reflect your adjusted cost base. The book cost vs ACB guide lists the eleven ways they diverge.

Does the calculator handle ETF return of capital and phantom distributions?

Yes. Return of capital reduces your ACB and a reinvested (phantom) distribution increases it. ActiveACB applies both from verified issuer data for more than 200 Canadian ETFs, and you can look any fund up in the ETF tax factor lookup.

Which brokers does the ACB calculator support?

Interactive Brokers (Flex Query XML), Questrade (Activity Report XLSX), Wealthsimple (activity CSV), CIBC Investor's Edge (Transaction History CSV), TD Direct Investing (activity CSV), Qtrade Direct Investing (account history XLSX), and National Bank Direct Brokerage (activity history CSV) are parsed natively. RBC Direct Investing, BMO InvestorLine, Scotia iTRADE, and any other broker work through the column mapper with a trade-history CSV or XLSX. The export guides show the exact steps for each broker.

Built for every type of Canadian investor

For ETF investors

  • Automatic ACB pooling across all accounts under ITA s. 47
  • Cross-account superficial loss detection including TFSA and RRSP
  • Return of capital and reinvested distributions applied automatically from verified issuer data for 200+ Canadian ETFs
  • Filing-ready PDF summary for your accountant or tax software
See how ACB pooling works →

For active traders

  • Superficial loss detection with the full CRA three-limiter formula
  • USD cash pool ACB with the $200 annual net gain or loss exemption for individuals
  • Options exercise and assignment ACB linking for calls and puts
  • Corporate actions: splits, mergers, return of capital, and standard cost-base spinoffs
  • Per-leg FX: cost at the buy-date rate, proceeds at the sell-date rate, with Bank of Canada daily rates
Learn about superficial loss rules →

For tax professionals

  • Per-preparer Accountant license: multi-client practice dashboard with statuses and sequential batch runs
  • White-label branding: your logo and firm name on client deliverables, not ours
  • Transaction-level ACB continuity ledger and a methodology letter with every calculation
  • Inline trade editor: fix, add, or delete rows and recalculate without re-uploading
  • Client broker files are deleted the moment each calculation completes, never retained
  • Over 13,000 automated test cases behind every calculation
ActiveACB for accountants →

Currently supported

Any other broker · via the column mapper

Map your file’s columns once and the engine runs the full calculation. See how it works, or send us a sample export and we’ll make sure the column mapper handles it.

Your data, handled carefully

Files kept 7 days at most
IBKR exports are deleted the moment the calculation finishes. Other broker files are kept privately for 7 days to improve broker support, then deleted. You can turn this off on your profile page.
No ad tracking
No Google Analytics, advertising pixels, or data brokers. We have no interest in selling your information.
Results deletable
Delete individual calculations from your history, or delete your account and everything stored with it from your profile page. Account deletion is permanent.
No data sales
Your email address and calculation history are never shared with or sold to third parties for any purpose.

Tax guides & articles

The statutory definition, the formula, one pool per taxpayer, and eleven worked examples mapped to the slips.
The s. 54 definition, the Schedule 3 formula, gross versus net Box 21, and twelve worked examples from a share sale to a deemed disposition at death.
Your broker's book cost is a performance figure, not a tax number. The eleven ways they diverge.
Why Box 20 is not your ACB, and how to reconcile broker slips with what Schedule 3 actually asks for.
Each leg is a taxable disposition. The settlement-date rate, the $200 exemption myth, and the superficial loss question.
Premiums fold into share proceeds and cost base, and the cross-year reversal rule almost nobody covers.
Reinvested dividends are taxed now and raise your cost base. Skip the entries and you pay tax twice.
A US spinoff defaults to a taxable dividend with no warning. The election, the ACB split, and the approval-lag problem.
Foreign currency is taxable property. How the USD cash pool and the $200 annual exemption work.
T3 Box 42 distributions quietly reduce your cost base. What to adjust, and when it matters.
Verified return of capital and reinvested distribution figures by fund and tax year, with issuer sources.
Why the IBKR T5008 falls short and what the Flex Query export gives you instead.
What Box 20 actually means at Questrade and which export contains the full picture.
What the Wealthsimple activity export covers that the year-end slip does not.
The slip never says. The conduct factors CRA actually applies, and what the s. 39(4) election locks in.
Box 20 can be blank, wrong, or missing on purpose. What each box holds and when to override it.
74% of covered ETFs returned capital in 2025. How often it happens and how large it runs, from issuer documents.
What four years of phantom distributions and return of capital did to $10,000 in each of 143 Canadian ETFs.
A CRA T5008 slip, with CRA's instructions printed below it

Step 1 of 3

This is the slip your broker sends you

Every broker files a T5008 with CRA for each sale you make. Most people copy its numbers straight onto their return, and most tax software does the same.

See the full slip (PDF)