Comments on: Reduce your Taxes by Claiming your Capital Loss

By: SUSD

SUSD — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:17:13 +0000

I’m confused about some of the things I’ve read here. It’s mentioned that you have to submit a “spreadsheet” to Revenue Canada with your trades. Is this every purchase I made or only transactions that are involved in a gain or a loss? And if I have to send them a “spreadsheet” why would they let me decide how to create this. If they have to look at millions of these submissions, why wouldn’t they provide a form for all of us to follow? If I make 12 purchase of 100 shares each month for the same stock resulting in 1200 shares, do they want to see one row for the 1200 shares, or see all 12 lines. In other words do I need to show the work, or just the ABC? Where would I get the daily conversion rates to adjust the currency?!? Would someone mind sharing there spreadsheet template?

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:33:16 +0000

Alex, here is more on the superficial loss rule

By: Northern Alex

Northern Alex — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:05:51 +0000

Did anyone dug deeper if it 30 business days or calendar days before you can rebuy a stock and still claim the loss? :)

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:32:08 +0000

Terry, unfortunately you cannot claim a capital loss within your RRSP.

By: Terry Hiddleston

Terry Hiddleston — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:51:27 +0000

Hi, I am a little confused. You see a few years ago when Nortel was pretty good I invested about 12,000.00 in it ,starting off buy buing at 30.00 dollars a share to 20 plus per share and as you all no bam! ! It crashed and when they emalgulated with someone else it split but not in our favor thus my to be good investment got worse and worse! My shares widdled to nothing the last few years I just let my $120.00 fee use up the remained of my shares,now it is at O. I would phone in to let them know when and how much to buy but the catch here is it was in a RRSP. Now come the question, can I claim a Capital gains loss and if so can I go back those years to claim 50 % ??PLease give some guidence and thak you. ( Whatever the outcome)!

By: MrK

MrK — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:52:11 +0000

Good article @ http://www.thestarphoenix.com/story_print.html?id=1393145&sponsor=

How do you ask Canada Revenue Agency to carry back losses to tax returns from prior years? You don’t need to complete T1-Adjustment requests for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Instead, you complete Section 3 of Schedule T1A (Request for Loss Carryback) as part of your 2008 income tax return.

This form is not in the tax package available at the post office. The easiest way to get it is via the Internet. Search for “CRA T1A,” or go to http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1a.

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:58:27 +0000

To claim a capital loss in 2009, you’ll have to wait until 2010 when you are filing for tax year 2009. At that point, you can claim your capital loss against gains up to 3 years back or carried forward indefinitely.

By: Kanu

Kanu — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:06:11 +0000

In Canada, if I have capital gain in 2008 but capital loss in 2009, can I carry forward gains to offset losses in current year? It is in stocks traded on line at TSX, NYSE etc.

By: Carolina

Carolina — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:43:00 +0000

If I sell stock ABC at a loss in a “conventional brokerage account”
then can I repurchase stock ABC in a Roth or Traditional IRA within 30 days without IRS problems.

By: Audrea

Audrea — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:00:40 +0000

How do you claim loss for past years, revised past years tax returns? Thanks

By: DK

DK — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:37:32 +0000

cannon_fodder,

I think it’s great to “bank” capital losses on equities that you truly want to dispose of. There are exceptions though. For instance if you know you will be selling your cottage in the next year or two, selling-and-buying-back your stock holdings might be a great idea.

By: cannon_fodder

cannon_fodder — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:53:09 +0000

MoneyMinder,

That is why some experts are saying don’t wait until the end to do your tax loss selling this year.

However, if you are in a buying mood, the last week in December could be a good time to dip your toes in some fundamentally good, but beaten down, stocks.

By: cannon_fodder

cannon_fodder — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:48:28 +0000

DK,

Those are good points, but consider this: if you believe it is always better to defer tax paid and you expect that in the future you will have capital gains perhaps from other equities, then this would allow you to take the capital loss sooner rather than later.

It is a case of “banking” the capital loss now to be used as soon as you need it rather than waiting until the “end”.

What do you think?

By: cannon_fodder

cannon_fodder — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:44:58 +0000

jefty_jeff:

If you buy and sell a particular stock several times within 30 days but then finally get sick of the stock and sell it without repurchasing it, then you can claim the capital loss after you have adjusted your cost base.

Here is a link to a calculator I’ve used before (yes, I didn’t create my own calculator for this purpose – at least not yet!):

http://www.fiscalagents.com/toolbox/cal/invest/acb.shtml

By: cannon_fodder

cannon_fodder — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:39:04 +0000

A question came up on BNN asking if it is 30 business days or 30 calendar days. The guest expert didn’t know the answer (a bit surprising, really).

By: Denis

Denis — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:53:14 +0000

@ Jim – “Thanks for the info. Im wondering.. I plan to make possibly 150 trades next year .I have friends who make more than 300 trades. How does Revenue Canada track all of this ?”

They don’t … You do. That’s what an audit’s for … To make sure you’re being honest in your reporting.

By: Karim

Karim — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:55:49 +0000

I have never claimed capital gains or loss but I had a few OTC Stocks since 2yrs or so but none of them actually made any profit, infact they all either came down in their market price or completely closed down, in which case I had to sell them this year in July/2008. RBC sold the stocks for me and whatever they gained from it, they used it as their commission but I personally did not get anything from it. In addition to this loss, I also had to pay a fee to RBC for managing the account of $130. I am wondering if there is anyway for me to claim any of this in my taxes for this year ? Appreciate your advice.
Thanks,
Karim

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:33:20 +0000

Thanks for the info. Im wondering.. I plan to make possibly 150 trades next year .I have friends who make more than 300 trades. How does Revenue Canada track all of this ?

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:39:10 +0000

Jim — you may have to send in all confirmations. The banker I deal with also trades futures (not sure how he day-trades while he’s at work…) and he said it took him THREE (3) MONTHS to do his taxes because he had to sort out all of his trades (about a phonebook thick pile of trade documents).

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:10:21 +0000

When you file your taxes, you’ll need to record your trades. For a higher volume trader, i’m not sure if you can simply attach a spreadsheet and simply indicate your capital gain/loss. You should consult an accountant.