RBC Direct Investing adjusted cost base

Your adjusted cost base is as old as the position. Your ability to download a statement is not, and the gap between those two facts is where most cost base reconstruction work actually happens.

None of that is a problem with any broker. It is what the rule asks for. This page is about the record: what to keep, for how long, and how to rebuild a pool when part of the history is no longer available. For the calculation itself, read adjusted cost base explained first.

The record you are required to keep is not the statement

A monthly statement shows balances. An adjusted cost base is built from transactions, and those are different documents.

What the calculation actually needs, per security:

• Every purchase, with its date, quantity, price and commission.
• Every sale, because a sale reduces the pool and fixes a gain against the average at that moment.
• Every distribution, split into its components, which only the T3 or T5 settles after year end.
• Every corporate action, since a split, merger or spin-off can change the pool without any cash moving.

Keep it for as long as you hold the security, plus six years after you dispose of it. That is a longer obligation than most people assume, and it runs from the disposition rather than from the purchase, so a holding sold this year still needs its purchase records from decades ago.

Why the platform's history runs out before your pool does

Brokerage platforms keep a rolling window of downloadable history. It is set by the institution, it is generally much shorter than a long holding period, and it is not a record-keeping service. The obligation sits with you in every case.

That produces the situation this page exists for: a position bought long enough ago that the confirmations are no longer retrievable, and a cost base that still has to be defended.

The practical response is to download the full history now, before you need it, and keep it somewhere that is not the platform. It is the single cheapest piece of tax work available, and it is only cheap while the window is still open.

Rebuilding a pool from an incomplete record

Work outward from what you can prove, in this order.

1. Establish the current quantity. It is the one figure both you and the institution agree on, and every reconstruction has to arrive at it.
2. Account for every acquisition you can evidence, including reinvested distributions, which are purchases that moved no cash and are the most commonly missed.
3. Apply the cost base adjustments from your T3 slips, which you may be able to retrieve from CRA's own records even where the brokerage history is gone.
4. Identify what is left unexplained, and reconstruct it from whatever secondary evidence exists: old tax returns, prior year Schedule 3 filings, an accountant's working papers, or the confirmations from the institution the holding was transferred from.

Do not fill a gap with the current market price. It is not a neutral estimate: on an appreciated holding it understates the gain, which is the direction that creates a liability rather than an overpayment.

Where a gap genuinely cannot be closed, document the method you used and keep the working. A reconstruction you can explain is a different thing from a number you cannot support.

Then pool it across your other accounts

Identical property pools per taxpayer, not per account. If the same security sits at another institution, the two positions share one adjusted cost base and neither broker can see both sides.

Adjusted cost base across two brokerages works through what that does to a sale. It is the step most often skipped, and it is the one no brokerage statement can do for you.

Reading the slip against your own number

A T5008 reports proceeds per account, and box 20 is where a cost amount would sit. Where your record is incomplete, the temptation to accept box 20 is strongest, and it is exactly the case CRA warns about: the figure is account-local and may not be your ACB.

T5008 box 20 and your ACB explains how to read the two together, and the T5008 and cost base checker shows the Schedule 3 totals each version implies.

Getting the history into one place

RBC Direct Investing does not connect to Luum. The brokerage connection Luum uses does not reach it, and saying otherwise would waste your time. The route that works is the upload: every plan takes a holdings file and a transaction history import.

For this page's subject that is less of a compromise than it sounds. A reconstruction is built from files you assemble anyway, and once the history is in, the pooling happens across all of your accounts at once, which is the calculation no single institution is positioned to do. How connections work lists which institutions connect directly today, and the ACB tracker keeps the reconstructed pool going afterwards across every account you hold.

This page is educational and is not tax advice. What satisfies a records requirement depends on your own circumstances. Confirm with the CRA or a qualified tax professional before you file.

Common questions

How long do I need to keep investment records in Canada?

For as long as you hold the security, plus six years after you dispose of it. The six years run from the end of the tax year the records relate to, which for a disposition is the year you sold. That means a sale this year can require purchase confirmations from many years earlier, and it is why discarding records when a statement cycle ends is the wrong instinct.

What if my brokerage no longer has my old transaction history?

The obligation does not move. Rebuild from what you can evidence: the current quantity, every acquisition you can document including reinvested distributions, the cost base adjustments on your T3 slips, and secondary sources such as prior year returns or the confirmations from the institution a holding was transferred from. Document the method and keep the working, because a reconstruction you can explain is defensible in a way a bare number is not.

Can I use the market price as my cost base if I cannot find the records?

No, and it is not a neutral guess. On a holding that has appreciated, using today's price understates your gain, which creates a liability rather than an overpayment. Reconstruct from evidence, and where a genuine gap remains, record how you arrived at the figure rather than substituting a convenient one.

Is a monthly statement enough to support my adjusted cost base?

Generally not. A statement shows balances at a point in time, and an adjusted cost base is built from transactions: each purchase with its commission, each sale, each distribution split into its components, and each corporate action. Those live in confirmations and tax slips rather than in the monthly summary.