How much help can I expect from my broker in calculating capital gains?

Jamie Golombek, vice-president of taxation and estate planning at AIM Trimark Investments, has the answer.

Jamie Golombek 18 March, 2004 | 2:00PM
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Dear Expert:

I have received my T3 slips from my broker, but, of course, these do not include information on the capital gains from mutual funds that I realized last year. I am a fairly new investor and last year was the first time that I sold any investments, as I took some profits (at last) from the market. If it turns out that my broker is not obliged to provide me with a capital gains statement, I'll have to go back and check my portfolio statements. How much help should I expect from my broker on this, and if I have to do it myself, what advice could you offer me on how to go about reporting the capital gains from my funds on my income tax return? I use tax software to prepare my return myself.

Expert Answer:

Hopefully, your broker will be able to provide you with duplicate confirmation slips for every purchase during the year so that you can track your adjusted cost base (ACB). That being said, you should have received copies of these slips after each purchase so you could track your ACB during the year. Note that this would include any confirmation slips for reinvested mutual fund distributions. If you forget to increase your adjusted cost base by the amount of any reinvested distributions, you will end up paying tax twice -- once when the distributions are paid out to you and the second time through reporting a higher capital gain upon sale.

To find out how much an RRSP contribution may save you, try Morningstar's RRSP Calculator.

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Jamie Golombek

Jamie Golombek  

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