When preparing to file your tax return, there will be tax slips that you will want to print out, give to your accountant, and keep for your records. Personal tax returns and taxes owing are usually due April 30th each year. For non-incorporated business owners, the return usually must be filed by June 15th. However, if there are taxes owing, then the interest and penalties are retroactive to April 30th.
Qtrade will start posting the appropriate tax slips in Feb/March for the preceding calendar year. That aligns with your personal tax return.
For an incorporated professional, the corporate return is usually prepared and filed shortly after the end of your corporation’s fiscal year. Don’t worry about the calendar year and a corporate year end lining up for your T3/T5 slips. Just give your accountant the tax slips and they will reconcile it all with your filing. Our main job is to provide the appropriate information to them. I am mentioning this because it is a common question from people with a corporation that has its fiscal year end later in the calendar year than personal tax season.
How to Find the Tax Slips on Qtrade
From your dashboard, navigate to the Service Center. Then select View eDocuments. There will be a tab for Tax Documents. You can then select and download the documents. I like to store them in a tax folder on my computer and print out a hard copy for submitting to my accountant.
What Documents to Watch Out For
You should print off and give all of the documents in the tax section to your tax preparer. However, I would also double check to make sure everything that I expect to be there is. The Tax Center on Qtrade has a full list and examples. Here are some common ones:
- There may be two RRSP contribution slips. One for March-December of the last calendar year and one for the first 28 days of this calendar year.
- There should also be T3/T5s for interest and dividend income.
- If you sold some holdings, there will be a T5008 for the disposition proceeds used for determining capital gains/losses.
- If you have >$100K of US-listed investments (held directly not via a Canadian-listed ETF), then there is a T1135 to document that.
- Trading Disposition Summary (TDS): Summarizes gains and losses from transactions at Qtrade. Your accountant will likely still want your monthly statements or account transaction history from the appropriate taxable account (cash or corporate cash) to double check everything.
Extra Documentation To Consider
Most accountants will also want you to print out either your account statements for non-registered accounts (not your RRSP/TFSA) to double check and accurately track your adjusted cost basis (ACB). Adjusted cost basis is the average cost of a holding minus the expenses paid (trading commissions, not embedded management expense ratios).
Most DIY investors that I know simply print out their documents and leave this to their accountant. However, it is considered “best practice” by DIY enthusiasts (perhaps overkill) to also independently track your ACB. I have made an Excel to do this that also accounts for nuances like superficial losses. You would need to manually download and drop in the data.