ACB is the number every capital gain depends on — and the one that breaks the moment you hold the same stock at two brokers, reinvest a distribution, or buy in US dollars. Sched3 keeps a running, CRA-correct cost base for every holding so you never rebuild it in a spreadsheet again.
Bring in broker CSVs from Wealthsimple, Questrade, IBKR and more — or enter trades by hand. Sched3 reads buys, sells, dividends, and reinvestments.
Each security is pooled across all your accounts, with DRIPs, return of capital, splits, and FX applied automatically — so the running ACB per share is always the number the CRA expects.
When you sell, the correct ACB flows straight into your realized gain and your Schedule 3 export — no re-derivation, no rounding drift.
Sched3 handles the events that a plain average-cost spreadsheet misses, each applied on the right date and in the right order.
Hold VFV at two brokers? The rule treats it as one pool. Sched3 merges them so your ACB per share reflects everything you own, not one statement in isolation.
Basic ACB tracking is free. Broker import, FX, splits, and DRIPs come with the DIY plan; multi-account pooling and the tax tools come with Active.
Manual entry, 1 portfolio, basic ACB & CSV export.
Broker import, superficial loss detection, FX support, splits & DRIPs.
Everything, for one investor: T5008/T3 tools, crypto, equity comp, corporate actions, accountant export.
Multi-client dashboard, client import links, bulk import, branded reports.
Adjusted cost base (ACB) is the total cost of a holding — what you paid plus commissions and certain adjustments — divided by the number of units you own. It is the figure subtracted from your sale proceeds to compute a capital gain or loss, and Canada requires the pooled average-cost method rather than picking specific shares.
A return-of-capital distribution (box 42 on a T3) is not immediate income — it lowers your ACB. If your cost base is driven to zero, further return of capital becomes an immediate capital gain. Sched3 applies these automatically from the fund distribution data.
No. Registered accounts are not taxed on capital gains, so ACB is only relevant for non-registered (taxable) accounts. Sched3 focuses tracking where it matters — though it still watches registered rebuys for the superficial-loss rule.
Each transaction is converted to Canadian dollars at the Bank of Canada rate on that date — the purchase at the buy-date rate, the sale at the sale-date rate. That currency movement is itself part of your gain, and Sched3 handles the conversion so you do not compute it by hand.
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