The slips you’ll receive
For sales in a non-registered account you’ll typically get a T5008 from each broker, listing proceeds and sometimes a cost figure. Trades inside a TFSA or RRSP aren’t reported and aren’t taxable. The T5008 is a starting point, not a finished answer.
Why the T5008 isn’t enough
A broker only sees activity in its own accounts. Its cost figure ignores shares you transferred in, identical shares held elsewhere, reinvested distributions, return of capital, FX on US trades, and corporate actions. The proceeds are usually reliable; the cost base often isn’t — and the cost base is what determines your tax.
Completing Schedule 3
Report each disposition on Schedule 3, grouped by property type. For each holding you enter proceeds, adjusted cost base, and outlays (commissions). Because Canada pools identical shares, you can group all sales of one security on a single line using its pooled ACB.
Where it lands on your return
Schedule 3 nets your gains and losses; the taxable portion flows to line 12700 of your T1 and is taxed at your marginal rate. Report a disposition even if it’s a loss — that’s what lets you carry the net capital loss back three years or forward indefinitely.