Why reconciliation exists in the product at all
The most painful moment for many investors is discovering during tax season that the broker-provided cost figure is incomplete. myCostBase turns that surprise into a review workflow you can run before filing.
What the reconciliation view compares
The workflow compares broker or T5008 values against your calculated ledger, security by security, for a given tax year:
- broker says;
- myCostBase says;
- difference.
The important part is the explanation attached to that difference.
Two ways to reconcile: interactive entry and batch import
Every plan can compare broker and T5008 figures against the ledger — how those broker-side figures get in differs by plan. Investor and Investor Plus both support unlimited manual T5008 entries per security, plus batch T5008 slip import that commits bulk broker CSV data for real, so a full year’s slips can be reconciled at once instead of security by security. Free can commit regular CSV transaction imports for real, capped at 100 imported transactions total, plus one manual T5008 entry; batch T5008 slip import stays preview-only, and unlimited manual T5008 entries require Investor or Investor Plus.
Common reasons for a difference
The explanation often comes from one of the core reconciliation issues:
- pooled holdings across multiple taxable accounts;
- ETF adjustments the broker never applied;
- transfer-in cost basis missing from the receiving broker;
- correct CAD conversion on USD trades;
- manual corrections added to preserve the true historical trail.
Available reports
Reporting is tiered by plan — see Pricing for the complete comparison:
- Investor and up: Schedule 3 Report, Realized Gains Detail, Current Holdings with ACB, T1135 Foreign Property Summary, and Household Tax Summary (PDF).
- Investor Plus adds: a downloadable T5008 Reconciliation report, a full per-security ACB Audit Trail report, a Detailed Superficial Loss report, and CSV/spreadsheet export of the above.
Exports are designed to support filing preparation or an accountant handoff — see myCostBase for Accountants. myCostBase still does not replace the filing software itself.
What to review before exporting
Before you export a final package, confirm that warnings have been resolved for the securities involved in that tax year. A report generated from an unresolved transfer basis gap is still a report with an unresolved assumption.
For the rules driving these numbers, see ACB Calculation Methodology. For why T5008 Box 20 diverges from ACB in the first place, see T5008 Box 20: Why It’s Not Your Adjusted Cost Base and T5008 Box 20 vs Box 21. To compare a single security’s figures side by side before committing a full import, use the T5008 ACB reconciliation checker.
If you are still building the ledger, go back to Importing Transactions or ETF Return of Capital Adjustments first.