Import Any Broker File with the Column Mapper
TD Direct Investing, RBC Direct Investing, BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Scotia iTRADE, National Bank Direct, Desjardins Disnat, crypto exchanges, or anything else that exports a CSV or XLSX.
How it works
ActiveACB has native parsers for IBKR, Questrade, and Wealthsimple. For every other broker, the column mapper does the same job: upload your trade-history file, tell us which column holds the date, symbol, action, quantity, and price, and the engine runs the full calculation — ACB pooling, superficial loss detection, FX conversion, and a filing-ready report, exactly as it does for natively supported brokers.
When you add a file the calculator doesn’t recognize, the mapping panel opens automatically with our best guess at your columns pre-filled. Review the five-row preview, adjust anything that looks wrong, and confirm. Your mapping is saved in your browser, so next year’s file from the same broker maps itself.
Exporting from your broker
Every platform labels it differently, but you are looking for a transaction, activity, or trade-history export as CSV or XLSX — not a holdings summary, statement PDF, or performance report. Set the date range to your full account history from inception: ACB is cumulative, so a single year’s activity will produce wrong cost-base numbers for positions you opened earlier.
- TD Direct Investing: WebBroker → Accounts → Activity → Export.
- RBC Direct Investing: My Portfolio → Activity → Download (CSV).
- BMO InvestorLine: My Portfolio → Account History → Download.
- CIBC Investor’s Edge: Accounts → Transaction History → Export.
- Scotia iTRADE: Accounts → History & Statements → Export.
- NBDB / Disnat: account activity or transaction report download; French-language exports (Achat/Vente, semicolon-separated) are handled automatically.
Menus move; if yours has changed, any export that lists one row per trade with a date, symbol, action, quantity, and price will work.
What the mapper needs
Five required columns: date, symbol, action, quantity, price. Optional but recommended when your file has them: commission, currency, account number, settlement date. Buy/sell wording is normalized automatically (Buy, Bought, BOT, Achat, Sell Short, Buy to Cover…). Non-trade rows — dividends, deposits, transfers, fees — are set aside and reported in your warnings so nothing is silently miscounted.
Two details worth checking on the preview: pick the correct date format if your file writes dates like 03/04/2025 (we refuse to guess when it’s ambiguous), and tick the Canadian-listed symbols option if your file writes TSX tickers without the .TO suffix — that keeps cross-broker ACB pooling and T1135 foreign-property tracking accurate.
Building the file yourself, or consolidating history by hand? Start from the template: download XLSX or CSV. Its columns map automatically, and it shows buys, sells, short sales, a USD trade, and the optional Account column. Note: combining multiple accounts in one file — like uploading multiple files — requires season access; single-account imports work on the free tier.
USD and foreign-currency files
If your file has a currency column, or you select a default currency, native-currency prices are converted to CAD using Bank of Canada rates for each trade’s settlement (or trade) date — the same convention the engine applies to IBKR and Questrade data. See USD cash ACB in Canada for how foreign-currency gains themselves are taxed.
Frequently asked questions
My broker only exports PDFs. Can I use those?
Not directly. Re-type the trades into the starter template (or any spreadsheet with date, symbol, action, quantity, price, and commission columns), save as CSV or XLSX, and map it. For a large history, ask your broker for a machine-readable export — most will provide one on request.
Does the mapper handle options or short selling?
Short selling yes (Sell Short / Buy to Cover rows are recognized). Options contracts are not yet supported through the mapper — import them via a natively supported broker export, or enter them through the Raw Trades XLSX workflow.
What about my dividends and interest?
The mapper imports trades only. Dividend and interest rows in your file are counted and listed in your calculation warnings, but the amounts come from your T5/T3 slips when you file — your broker reports those to the CRA directly.
Can you add native support for my broker?
Yes — that’s exactly how we prioritize. Email [email protected] with a sample export (redact amounts if you like; we need the column layout) and we’ll ship a preset so your broker maps automatically for everyone.