Why Your National Bank Direct Brokerage T5008 May Not Reflect Your True ACB

What the National Bank T5008 does and does not tell you

If you sold securities in a non-registered account during the year, National Bank Direct Brokerage sends you a T5008, and Quebec residents receive the matching Relevé 18. Page 1 of the slip leaves boxes 14 to 21 empty. Each sale is listed on the pages titled Securities Transactions Details, with the proceeds reported separately from the fees and commissions you paid.

Box 20 on those pages is National Bank’s own figure. The 2025 tax guide it gives its clients says the amount “represents the cost we have in our systems, including adjustments such as transaction fees, reinvested distributions, return of capital or certain reorganization events related to the security.” It adds that “If box 20 is blank, this means that the institution does not have the exact information,” and that the amount “may not correspond to the ACB required to calculate the gain or loss.” Its instruction is the same for every case. “In all cases, you must use the ACB calculated on the basis of your personal data/records.”

The help centre says it more briefly. “The book value information we provide is for information purposes only.” You may use the T5008, your statements and your trade confirmations for tax purposes, it goes on, “but you must ensure that the information presented on these documents is accurate.”

A cost kept by one broker for its own accounts cannot apply rules that reach beyond them.

• Other accounts and other brokers. National Bank’s guide says the adjusted cost base of a security “must take into account the cost of all identical securities held in all non-registered accounts across all financial institutions.” National Bank sees only the accounts it holds.
• Transfers in. For shares moved in from another firm, National Bank says “We enter the value provided in the account by the transferring institution, but we are unable to confirm the accuracy of the book value transmitted.” Its help page explains how to correct the value in your account with form 27740.
• Superficial losses. If you or an affiliated person acquires identical property within 30 days before or after a loss sale, and still holds it 30 days after the sale, all or part of the loss can be denied and added to the cost of the replacement shares. See the superficial loss rule.
• US-dollar trades. The CRA has you convert the cost at the exchange rate on the day you bought and the proceeds at the rate on the day you sold. National Bank does not say which rate its slip uses. See USD trades and your ACB.
• Return of capital and reinvested distributions. Return of capital, reported in box 42 of the T3 and box M of the Relevé 16, generally lowers the cost of the units you hold. A reinvested taxable distribution works the other way. It is taxed in the year it is paid, like a cash distribution, and it raises the cost by the amount reinvested, which the fund’s own distribution records identify. Fund issuers confirm both after year end. See ETF phantom distributions.

The slip also does not say whether a sale is a capital gain or business income. That is your call, and for an active trader it can go either way. See is a T5008 capital gains or investment income.

The other National Bank slips and summaries

The T5008 is one of several documents National Bank sends for a non-registered account. Registered plans have their own slips and receipts, which this page does not cover. Its 2025 tax slip brochure, published in French, describes each of the following.

• T5 and Relevé 3. The dividends and interest paid into your non-registered accounts. The slip is not issued when your investment income for the year totals less than $50, but you still report that income. Foreign income is in box 15 of the T5 and box F of the Relevé 3, and the foreign tax paid on it is in box 16 and box G.
• T3 and Relevé 16. Distributions from trust units such as ETFs, REITs and income trusts, sent with a Summary of Trust Income. Mutual fund companies issue their own slips. The T3 slips in your CRA My Account are issued in the name of each trust, so you will not find one in National Bank’s name.
• T5013 and Relevé 15. Income from units of a limited partnership.
• NR4. For non-residents of Canada, with gross investment income and any tax withheld.
• Summary of Investment Income. All the investment income paid into your non-registered accounts during the year, in date order, along with interest you paid, such as interest on a margin balance.
• Securities Transactions Summary. The purchases, redemptions and sales in the account during the year. Unlike the T5008, its amounts include the fees and commissions you paid, so the two do not match line for line.
• Upcoming trust units summary. Sent with the first T3 mailing when some trusts have not reported yet, listing the slips still to come.
• Foreign property reports. Reports to help with Form T1135, showing book value and market value. National Bank notes that their book value is not necessarily your ACB, and that some securities listed may not need to be reported.
• Realized Gains and Losses report. Provided for information. National Bank says box 20 may not be your ACB even when it matches this report.

National Bank’s pricing page names portfolio statements, trade confirmations and Securities Transactions Summaries as the only official documents. A tax package, a corporate fiscal year-end report and other personalized reports can be requested for $50 a document plus tax, and National Bank does not guarantee the completeness and accuracy of the data in them.

Slips are under the Documents tab of the online platform, in Tax slips, and in the NBC Wealth app. A new account receives its slips by mail until you change the delivery method, and slips are free either way.

Why the Activities history is the better source file

The history under the Activities tab lists every posting in the period you choose, including buys, sells, dividends, distributions, deposits and withdrawals, with their trade, settlement and processing dates, quantities, prices, commissions and net amounts. It is the National Bank file ActiveACB reads directly. The slips summarize one year after it ends, and the history keeps the purchases behind each sale.

• ACB pooling. One average cost per security across every non-registered account and broker you upload.
• Superficial loss. The 61-day window is checked against the taxable trades you supply. Missing history can change the result.
• FX treatment. A US-dollar buy or sell converts at the Bank of Canada rate for its settlement date, or its trade date when the row has no usable settlement date. A US-dollar dividend or distribution converts at the rate for the trade date on its row. A trade settled in US dollars at a conversion rate stated on its row uses that rate.
• Reinvested distributions. A Distribution row and its matching Stock Dividnd row add the reinvested amount to the fund’s cost once, even when the pair is split across two exports.
• Cancellations. A Cancellation row and the posting it reverses are both dropped, across all the National Bank files you upload together.
• Holdings bought before the file. A sale of more units than your history holds, or a distribution paid on more units than your trades hold, is named in your warnings so you can add the missing purchases. Your rows are also checked against the running cash balance National Bank writes on each row, so a missing stretch of activity is named too. That check follows cash, so it cannot see units moved in from another firm, and no warning can prove a history is complete.

Options, interest, withholding tax, currency conversions and corporate actions are not read from a National Bank file yet. Each row of them is named in your warnings, and the export guide lists what to add by hand.

These files are read as non-registered accounts unless you enter an account number as registered on the upload page. Review registered-plan and affiliated-person purchases separately. They can affect a superficial loss even when they are absent from your upload.

When the National Bank slips arrive

National Bank’s regulatory page, published in French, gave these start-of-mailing dates for the 2025 tax year. Check the same page for other years.

Trusts and limited partnerships have until March 31 to send their tax information, so T3 and T5013 slips can arrive in several mailings. National Bank’s guide adds that some documents may arrive in April because of late filings by issuers or changes made by some income trusts and limited partnerships, and advises against rushing to file before you have them all.

If the account belongs to a corporation

National Bank Direct Brokerage offers company accounts, and its help centre lists two ways to open one, by phone at 1 800 363-3511 or at a branch. Its application form for special accounts asks a holding company the purpose for which it was established and, where there is one, the name of its operating company.

National Bank’s tax guide is written for individuals. It says it “is intended for individuals residing in Canada and does not apply to corporations or trusts,” and we have not found a National Bank page that describes corporate slips separately. A corporate fiscal year-end report is one of the personalized reports you can request.

The cost base pools the same way for a corporation, but several rules around it change.

• Schedule 6, not Schedule 3. A corporation reports its dispositions of capital property on Schedule 6 of the T2 return.
• Suspended losses instead of superficial losses. When a corporation sells at a loss and it or an affiliated person acquires identical property within 30 days before or after the sale and still holds it 30 days later, subsections 40(3.3) and 40(3.4) set the loss to nil for now. It is released only on one of the events listed in subsection 40(3.4), and it is not added to the cost of the replacement shares.
• Dividends reduce losses on shares. Under paragraph 112(3)(b), a corporation reduces a loss on shares held as capital property by certain dividends it received on those shares.
• No $200 foreign exchange exemption. Subsection 39(1.1) applies to an individual other than a trust, so a corporation reports its full foreign exchange gain or loss.
• The inclusion rate is still one half. The proposed increase to two thirds was cancelled on March 21, 2025, and National Bank’s 2025 guide confirms that the rate remains 50%.

Whether a holding company’s trading is on capital account or income account is a separate question for its accountant.

ActiveACB applies these corporate rules when you choose Corporation as the account holder and the month the fiscal year ends, and the report covers that fiscal year. The dividend reduction under paragraph 112(3)(b) is estimated for the accountant to review, not taken off the figures. Only the accounts you upload are checked for repurchases. Upload the owner's or a sister company's accounts with the corporation's and list them as an affiliated person's accounts, and their purchases count too, as do the shares a spinoff, stock dividend or merger gives them.

Calculate the company’s accounts separately from your personal accounts, and do not upload them in the same calculation, because the calculator would pool their holdings as if one person owned them. The FAQ covers corporate and trust accounts in more detail.

How to export the right file from National Bank Direct Brokerage

The full walk-through is in the National Bank export guide. Follow the four steps below to prepare your file for the ACB calculator. Your first calculation is free.

1. Open the history. On the website, open the Activities tab and its history view.
2. Choose the widest period, starting on the day the account was opened, and note the earliest row it returns.
3. Set the file options to the pipe delimiter, a period for decimals and the mm-dd-yyyy date format, then export.
4. Upload to ActiveACB. The file is recognized by its 15 column names and read directly.

National Bank T5008 vs Activities history coverage table

Frequently asked questions

Does National Bank Direct Brokerage track my ACB?

National Bank keeps a cost for each holding in its systems and prints it in box 20 of your T5008. Its tax guide says that amount may not correspond to the ACB needed to calculate a gain or loss, and that in all cases you must use an ACB calculated from your own records. The figure is a record to check, not the number to file.

Box 20 on my National Bank T5008 is blank. What does that mean?

National Bank says a blank box 20 means it does not have the exact cost. Work the cost out from your own records, such as trade confirmations, statements and the Activities history. ActiveACB names a sale of more units than your uploaded history holds, so you can add the missing purchases through the trade editor.

Why does the Securities Transactions Summary not match my T5008?

The two show the same sales in different ways. The T5008 reports proceeds separately from the fees and commissions you paid, as the tax authorities require, while the amounts on the Securities Transactions Summary include those fees and commissions. Compare them after allowing for fees.

I live in Quebec. Do I get a T5008 and a Relevé 18?

Yes. National Bank describes the T5008 and the Relevé 18 together, and since the 2021 tax year the CRA has let institutions send Quebec residents one consolidated T5008 and Relevé 18. The CRA recommends reviewing every page, because the transactions to report start on page 3. The same caution about box 20 applies to both.

My account belongs to a holding company. Does this apply?

The cost base work does, but the tax rules around it change. National Bank’s tax guide does not apply to corporations, and a corporation reports capital gains on Schedule 6 of its T2 return. A loss on a repurchase falls under the suspended loss rule rather than the superficial loss rule, and dividends can reduce a loss on shares. Choose Corporation as the account holder and the month the fiscal year ends, and ActiveACB applies the corporate rules for that fiscal year, with the dividend reduction estimated for review rather than taken off. Calculate the company’s accounts separately from your personal ones.

The book value of shares I transferred to National Bank looks wrong. Why?

National Bank enters the value the transferring institution sent and says it cannot confirm that value is accurate. To correct it in your account, send National Bank form 27740 with proof such as trade confirmations or statements. For your return, use the cost from your own records, and upload the earlier broker’s history too so ActiveACB can pool it.