Filing Taxes on Investment Income in Canada: T5, T3, T5008
Three slips, and one trap in each
Filing taxes on investment income in Canada looks harder than it is, right up until the envelopes arrive. The first spring after opening a non-registered brokerage account produces two or three unfamiliar slips, each carrying four or five numbered boxes and no instructions.
The volume is smaller than it appears. For someone holding stocks, funds and cash in a taxable account, three slips carry nearly all of it: the T5, the T3 and the T5008. Each maps to specific lines on the return, and each hides one trap that catches first-time filers. Here is what they cover, where every box lands, and what to watch for.
When the slips actually arrive
On its tax slips overview, the Canada Revenue Agency states: “You should have received most of your slips and receipts by the end of February. However, you may not receive your T3 and T5013 slips until the end of March.”
That gap matters. A taxable account holding funds can produce a T3 a full month after the T5 lands. Filing in early March with the T5 in hand and the T3 still in the mail means an amended return later.
Two related notes from the same page. Receipts for RRSP and PRPP contributions made in the first 60 days of the tax year may not arrive until May. And slips are prepared by your employer, payer, issuer or administrator, not by the CRA, though the CRA can supply a copy of a current or prior year slip if one is missing or lost.
One boundary before going further: registered plans have their own slip family, including the T4RSP for RRSP income, the T4RIF for RIF income and the T4FHSA for the First Home Savings Account, and none of what follows covers those accounts.
The T5: interest, dividends and foreign income
The T5, the Statement of Investment Income, is the slip banks and brokers issue for income your investments paid you during the year. Box 13 covers interest from Canadian sources, reported per line 12100.
The dividend boxes are where it stops being intuitive. Eligible dividends occupy boxes 24, 25 and 26: the box 25 amount goes on line 12000, and the dividend tax credit in box 26 is claimed at line 40425 using the Federal Worksheet. Dividends other than eligible sit in boxes 10, 11 and 12, with the box 11 amount going on lines 12010 and 12000 and the credit in box 12 claimed at line 40425. The figure printed on the slip and the cash that hit your account are not the same number, and the reason for the difference, plus what the credit is actually worth, is the subject of our explainer on the dividend tax credit in Canada.
Two more boxes matter. Box 18 holds capital gains dividends, which go on line 17400 of Schedule 3 rather than anywhere on the T1 itself. Box 15 is foreign income, reported per line 12100, and box 16 is foreign tax paid, which the CRA describes as “used to calculate your foreign tax credit” at line 40500.
The T5 trap: no slip does not mean no income. The CRA’s line 12100 page is explicit: “You may not receive a T5 slip if the total investment income is less than $50, but you must still report the income.” The same page extends this to a detail almost nobody expects: interest the CRA itself paid you on a refund, as shown on your notice of assessment or reassessment, is reportable too.
The T3: income you were allocated, not paid
The T3 is the Statement of Trust Income Allocations and Designations, and it reports income allocated to you by a trust. Fund structures organised as trusts issue it, which is why an investor who never touched a trust directly still receives one.
Its dividend boxes work like the T5’s with different numbers. Amounts in boxes 32 and 50 go on line 12000, with box 32 also going on line 12010, and the federal dividend tax credit is the total of boxes 39 and 51, claimed on line 40425. Box 25 covers foreign non-business income, reported on line 12100 and on line 43300 of Form T2209, the Federal Foreign Tax Credits form.
The T3 trap: box 21. Capital gains in box 21, less any box 30 amount, go on line 17600 of Schedule 3. A fund can allocate you a capital gain in a year when you sold nothing, because the gain was realised inside the fund and passed through to you. It arrives on a T3, it is taxable, and it can land in a year your own holding fell in value.
The T5008: the slip that is not the answer
The T5008, or Statement of Securities Transactions, reports “the amount paid or credited to you for securities you disposed of or redeemed during the year.” Capital-account transactions from it are reported on Schedule 3. Income-account transactions go elsewhere, to line 13500 as business income, or to line 12100 for debt obligations in bearer form.
The T5008 trap is the most important thing on this page, and the CRA states it plainly on the T5008 slip page: “The amount in box 20 may or may not reflect your adjusted cost base (ACB) for the purpose of determining the gain or loss from the disposition of the security. You are required to make the adjustments, as needed, to the amount indicated in box 20, at the time of determining and reporting your gain or loss from the disposition.”
Read that twice. The broker’s book value is not authoritative, and responsibility for the adjusted cost base sits with the taxpayer. Common reasons box 20 comes out wrong or blank include transfers between brokers, dividend reinvestment plans, reinvested fund distributions and purchases made in US dollars. Those four are our own observation rather than CRA statements, but each leaves a cost history the issuing broker never saw.
Quebec residents get one extra wrinkle. Since the 2021 taxation year, financial institutions can send a consolidated T5008 and RL-18 slip, and the CRA recommends “reviewing each page carefully, as the transactions to be reported are located starting from page 3.”
Where every box lands
| Slip and box | What it reports | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| T5 box 13 | Interest from Canadian sources | Line 12100 |
| T5 box 25 | Eligible dividends | Line 12000 |
| T5 box 26 | Dividend tax credit, eligible | Line 40425 (Federal Worksheet) |
| T5 box 11 | Dividends other than eligible | Lines 12010 and 12000 |
| T5 box 12 | Dividend tax credit, other than eligible | Line 40425 |
| T5 box 18 | Capital gains dividends | Schedule 3, line 17400 |
| T5 box 15 | Foreign income | Line 12100 |
| T5 box 16 | Foreign tax paid | Line 40500 |
| T3 boxes 32 and 50 | Dividends allocated by the trust | Line 12000 (box 32 also line 12010) |
| T3 boxes 39 and 51 | Federal dividend tax credit | Line 40425 |
| T3 box 21 less box 30 | Capital gains allocated | Schedule 3, line 17600 |
| T3 box 25 | Foreign non-business income | Line 12100 and line 43300 of Form T2209 |
| T5008 | Proceeds of disposition | Schedule 3 (capital account) |
Schedule 3 and the arithmetic behind line 12700
Gains and losses are computed on Schedule 3, and only the result reaches the return. The inclusion rate is 50%. The proposed increase to two-thirds was cancelled on March 21, 2025, so it does not apply.
The CRA’s own worked example shows the sequence. An investor sells 400 shares for $6,500 in proceeds, pays a $60 commission, and has an adjusted cost base of $4,000. The capital gain is $6,500 less ($4,000 plus $60), which is $2,440. The taxable capital gain is half of that, $1,220, and $1,220 is the figure reported on line 12700. As the CRA puts it for the 2025 return: “If you sold or disposed of property in 2025 and your taxable capital gains for the year were more than your allowable capital losses, you have to include the difference on line 12700 of your return.” What that taxable amount costs depends on your marginal rate, which we work through in our guide to capital gains tax in Canada.
Losses run through the same schedule. They can reduce the year’s gains to zero, and net capital losses can be applied to taxable capital gains of the three preceding years and to any future years. One warning before claiming a loss: the superficial loss rule can deny it when the same security is repurchased inside a 30-day window, and the mechanics are set out in our explainer on the superficial loss rule.
Foreign income: convert it, and do not net the tax
Foreign interest and dividend income is reported in Canadian dollars. The CRA’s instruction is that “the foreign currency amount should be converted using the Bank of Canada exchange rate in effect on the day that the amount arises.”
The second half is where returns go wrong. The CRA states: “Do not subtract the foreign taxes from your income when you report it.” The full foreign amount is reported as income, and the tax withheld abroad is handled separately as a foreign tax credit at line 40500 federally, and on Form 428 provincially, except in Quebec.
Eligibility for that credit rests on being a resident of Canada at any time in the year, having included the foreign income on your Canadian return, and having paid non-business or business income tax on it to a foreign country. The CRA also notes that a tax treaty with another country may affect eligibility.
Deadlines, and the missing slip
The CRA’s standing rule on its due dates page is short: “Filing due date is April 30 for most taxpayers, June 15 for self-employed.”
For the 2025 tax year, the CRA published March 2, 2026 as the RRSP, PRPP and SPP contribution deadline, April 30, 2026 both to file and to pay a balance owing, and June 15, 2026 to file where you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed. The April 30 and June 15 pattern is the one to plan around in later years, with the exact dates confirmed against the CRA each cycle.
If a slip never shows up or gets lost, the CRA can provide a copy of a current or prior year slip on request.
The short version
Three slips, three destinations. The T5 feeds the interest and dividend lines. The T3 feeds those same lines plus a capital gain you may not have chosen to realise. The T5008 feeds Schedule 3 with a proceeds figure whose cost side is yours to get right. Wait for the T3 before filing, treat box 20 as a starting point rather than an answer, and report foreign income gross of foreign tax.
None of that answers how much tax you will pay. That question belongs to the linked explainers on dividends, capital gains and loss claims, where the rates and the arithmetic live.
Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Slip, line and deadline information verified against Canada Revenue Agency pages as of September 4, 2026.
