If you are an individual, individual in business, corporation, partnership or trust and you made security transactions last year, such as sales of public corporation shares, mutual fund units, bonds or other investments (linked notes, derivative products, etc.), be sure to meet your tax obligations by reporting the transactions in your income tax return. 

You have to report all your security transactions, even if the amount of the transactions is nil or negative. 

New for 2021

As of the 2021 taxation year, your financial institution or securities dealer must send you one of the following: 

• a new consolidated T5008/RL-18 slip for all transactions;
• a single RL-18 slip for each transaction.

The consolidated T5008/RL-18 slip:  

• combines federal and provincial tax information; 
• shows all your transactions on a single slip (instead of one RL-18 slip for each transaction);
• standardizes the information sent by financial institutions and securities dealers to facilitate the self-assessment of capital gains or losses.  

The consolidated T5008/RL-18 slip is structured as follows:

• Page 1 shows the T5008 information return and the RL-18 slip separately, with your personal information and the information of your financial institution or securities dealer.
• Page 2 gives the instructions for the T5008 return and the RL-18 slip.
• Page 3 and subsequent pages feature a table that provides details on the securities transactions so that you can calculate capital gains or losses. 

You must report the transactions on pages 3 and following of the consolidated T5008/RL-18 slip in your income tax return. 

How to meet your tax obligations

Step 1

For each transaction, use the information shown on one or more of the following document(s) from your financial institution or securities dealer:

• the new consolidated T5008/RL-18 slip (the transactions to report are shown on pages 3 and following);
• the single RL-18 slip and the single T5008 return, if your financial institution or securities dealer sent you single slips instead of the new consolidated T5008/RL-18 slip;
• the account statement or statement of transactions;
• any other document.

Make sure that the information on your supporting documents is accurate (such as the proceeds of disposition, the cost, book value and the face value).

Step 2

For each transaction, determine the type of amount you are reporting:

• a capital gain or loss;
• business income or a business loss (income or a loss from commercial activities);
• interest or other investment income.

To determine whether an amount is business income or a business loss rather than a capital gain or loss, refer to Part 2 of guide IN-155-V, Business and Professional Income.

If you are reporting a capital gain or loss, you have to take into account the adjusted cost base (ACB) in the calculation of the gain or loss. The amount shown in box 20 of the RL-18 slip or on your supporting document is not necessarily the ACB. 

To calculate the ACB, you have to check whether the amount shown in box 20 or the amount on your supporting document takes into account capital repayments received for the current year and previous years. To do so, refer to:

• the documents sent by your broker or dealer in securities;
• section 2.4.6 of guide IN-120-V, Capital Gains and Losses.

Step 3

Enter the amount calculated for each transaction in your income tax return.

For more instructions specific to your situation, see below.