Frequently Asked Questions

You can, but the numbers might be wrong. The CRA’s own T5008 states that Box 20 “may or may not reflect your adjusted cost base.” For a few buy-and-hold trades, it’s usually fine. But if you’ve traded the same stock multiple times, held foreign currency, or dealt with options or corporate actions, your broker’s reported cost base drifts further from reality with every transaction. You’re either overpaying or creating a liability you don’t know about.

More than most traders realize. Sell a stock at a loss and rebuy within 30 days? Loss denied, added back to your ACB. Sell shares at a loss then buy a deep in-the-money call on the same underlying? The CRA treats that call as identical property and denies the loss. Most traders don’t know that rule exists until they get reassessed.

Every USD conversion is a taxable FX event. Options assignments change the ACB of the shares you receive. Splits, spinoffs, and mergers reset your cost base. Each adjustment compounds on the next. Miss one early in the year and every calculation after it is wrong.

You could build a spreadsheet. But superficial loss detection means scanning a 61-day window around every sale. FX tracking means maintaining running pool ACBs for every foreign currency. Options linking means knowing the four-way CRA matrix for premiums. Most spreadsheets break down around trade 50. ActiveACB parses your broker export directly. Upload one file, get your complete report in seconds. No manual entry, no missed trades.

AdjustedCostBase.ca is a solid resource with excellent educational content. The difference is workflow. Their platform relies on manual entry or basic spreadsheet imports. For 20 transactions a year, that works. For 200 or 2,000, it’s a full-day project with a high chance of errors. ActiveACB parses your broker export file directly. Nothing to type, nothing to miss.

Superficial loss detection with the full CRA three-limiter formula, including cross-account TFSA/RRSP affiliated denial, call options as identical property, and year-end December-to-January look-forward. FX cash pool ACB tracking with the $200 annual gain exemption. Options exercise and assignment linking for calls and puts. Corporate actions: splits, spinoffs, mergers, return of capital, name changes, and fractional share cash-in-lieu. Worthless security elections with reversal detection. T1135 foreign property warnings. The engine runs over 1,200 tests against real CRA edge cases. These are not approximations.

Yes, and that’s the recommended workflow. ActiveACB calculates your correct ACB and capital gains. You take those numbers and enter them into Wealthsimple Tax (free), TurboTax, or give them to your accountant. Calculate with us, file with your preferred tool.

Interactive Brokers (Flex Query XML), Questrade (Activity Report XLSX), and Wealthsimple (Activity Export CSV). All three are parsed directly, including trades, dividends, interest, corporate actions, and FX where applicable. You can upload multiple files from different accounts or brokers in a single session. The engine merges everything and detects cross-account superficial losses automatically. Step-by-step guides walk you through the export: IBKR Flex Query guide, Questrade Activity Report guide, and Wealthsimple activity CSV guide. Broker-specific T5008 explainers are at IBKR, Questrade, and Wealthsimple. More brokerages coming soon.

Your file is processed in a temporary directory and deleted the moment your report is generated. Calculation results are stored in your account history for your reference. Your uploaded file is deleted immediately after processing.

Yes. Click “Add another account” to upload files from multiple IBKR, Questrade, or Wealthsimple accounts. The engine processes all trades together, pools ACB correctly across accounts, and detects superficial losses across brokers, including cases where you sold in one account and rebought in another.

Any year from 2021 onwards. For the most accurate results, upload your full trading history from account inception. The engine processes all years chronologically to build correct pooled ACB, but only reports dispositions for your selected tax year.

Yes. From your calculation history, download the Raw Trades XLSX for any previous calculation. Open it in Excel, correct or add rows (the column names are labelled), then re-upload it as a new calculation. ActiveACB recognises its own export format and processes it the same way as an IBKR, Questrade, or Wealthsimple import. This is the recommended workflow for fixing a corporate action the parser missed or removing a duplicate trade.

Yes. After every calculation you can download three files: a PDF filing summary with Schedule 3 figures, an XLSX report with a per-disposition breakdown and raw trades, and a JSON file with the full calculation detail. All three are available from your calculation history page. The PDF is the format most useful for your accountant. The XLSX is useful for reconciling against your T5008 or spotting individual trades you want to correct.

Cryptocurrency (no CRA cost accounting standard yet), non-calendar fiscal years, and U.S. wash-sale rules (a different rule from Canadian superficial loss). ETF return-of-capital and annual distribution adjustments are not yet automated. If your ETF paid a return of capital, you will need to adjust ACB manually using the fund’s published T3 tax factors, then re-import via the Raw Trades XLSX. We’re building automated ETF distribution support. Short selling is tracked, but complex synthetic short positions that span multiple instruments may require manual review. A full methodology and known-limitation list is at activeacb.ca/methodology.