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Superficial Losses / Norbert's Gambit
March 7, 2021
5:54 pm
odinson
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February 10, 2018
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Please bear with the long explanation as I may have a silly question here:

I've been doing my own taxes for years, always very simple, but for the first time have just a few stock sales to report.

Whether I report the figures on my T5008 or calculate my ACB myself (using this tool:

http://pabroon.blogspot.ca/201.....sheet.html)

the results are slightly different, but resulting in a discrepancy of only $5-6 on my final return amount. But that's not really my question...

4 of my 5 sells were Norbert's Gambit. 3 of those 4 NG trades resulted in small capital losses (grand total loss form those was about $110; "profited" about $40 on the 4th NG trade). In some of my reading about calculating ACB, I noticed some warnings about claiming superficial losses due to Norbert's Gambit.

None of my sells were within the 61-day period -- i.e:

- I owned zero DLR.TO for over 30 days
- I bought DLR.TO in CAD
- I journaled all of it to DLR.U.TO
- I sold all of it for USD (which I then mostly withdrew & spent, though on one occasion I bought some other US-listed stock), and
- I didn't buy any more DLR.TO until another 30+ days had passed. (Of my 4 buys, 36 or 37 days was the shortest time between a complete sell-off and then buying more of the same stock to get more USD).

SOME online sources seem to indicate that I should be OK by claiming everything on my return. Other sources aren't as clear. My question essentially has to do with the highlighted part:

"A superficial loss can occur when you dispose of capital property for a loss and both of the following conditions are met:
You, or a person affiliated with you, buys, OR HAS A RIGHT TO BUY, the same or identical property (called "substituted property") during the period starting 30 calendar days before the sale and ending 30 calendar days after the sale.
You, or a person affiliated with you, still owns, or has a right to buy, the substituted property 30 calendar days after the sale."

(From https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/personal-income/line-127-capital-gains/capital-losses-deductions/what-a-superficial-loss.html)

Each time I bought DLR I had owned none for over 30 days beforehand; each time I sold it I didn't own any more for over 30 days afterwards.

But at all times in-between I "had a right to buy" more of the identical property I had just sold, i.e., more DLR.TO or DLR.U.TO.
Am I violating the Superficial Loss rule by entering all my sell trades on my Schedule 3 or T5008? (Although the final difference is only around $50 for my eventual return ,so it's not a big deal, I'd prefer to know the answer for future reference, just in case. Of course I'd also prefer to receive back the extra ~$50 on my returnsf-cool The losses would offset some of the gains I made on the final, non-NG stock sell).

March 7, 2021
6:11 pm
Norman1
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That "right to buy" refers to a right, a warrant, or a call option.

Did you or some related person own some kind of call option, warrant, or right to buy DLR or DLR.U?

March 7, 2021
7:27 pm
odinson
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Ahh, that makes sense. I guess I'm in the clear. Thanks!

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