Getting Started

Start with the tax owner

One tax owner equals one pooled adjusted cost base universe. That is the rule that drives the rest of the setup. If the same taxpayer holds an identical security across two taxable brokerages, those positions belong to the same ACB pool even if the broker statements never meet.

Create the tax owner first, then add the brokerage accounts that belong to that person.

Mark taxable versus excluded accounts correctly

This is the most important setup decision in the product.

Taxable accounts belong in the pool. Registered accounts do not. In practice, that means non-registered cash or margin accounts should be marked taxable, while RRSP, TFSA, FHSA, and RESP accounts should be excluded.

If you classify these incorrectly, the final ACB result can be wrong even if every transaction row was imported perfectly.

Add accounts before importing history

For each account, record:

• institution name;
• account nickname;
• whether the account is taxable or excluded.

The nickname matters because later ledger rows and warnings need to show which brokerage account produced the event.

Decide how you will load history

There are two valid starting paths:

• import a broker CSV;
• enter transactions manually.

The free plan is designed to support manual entry first, so you can validate the ledger without paying for imports. If your history is long, imports will save time, but you still need the setup decisions above to be correct before the import starts.

Gather the records that commonly go missing

Before you start, collect anything that broker exports usually fail to carry cleanly:

• transfer documentation showing original cost basis;
• ETF tax adjustments such as return of capital and reinvested capital gains;
• notes on FX overrides if you already rely on documented custom rates.

These are the cases that usually break spreadsheet-based ACB tracking later.

What to do next

If you are ready to load source history, continue to Importing Transactions. If your main concern is understanding how multiple brokerages roll into one ACB number, read Pooled ACB Across Brokerages.