When you sell a U.S.-listed security held in a Canadian non-registered account, the CRA requires you to report the capital gain in Canadian dollars. Both the proceeds of disposition and the adjusted cost base must be converted using the Bank of Canada exchange rate on the date of each transaction — not a calendar-year average, and not today’s rate.
The conversion timing affects your result more than most investors expect. If the Canadian dollar weakened between your buy and sell dates, a trade that shows a loss in USD can produce a taxable gain in CAD. Conversely, a rising loonie can significantly reduce a USD-denominated gain when expressed in Canadian dollars.
The Bank of Canada publishes official daily closing rates for FXUSDCAD going back decades. CRA guidance identifies the Bank of Canada rate as the appropriate reference for foreign currency conversions. This calculator fetches the official rate for your exact trade dates, handles weekends and public holidays by using the nearest prior business day rate, and calculates your CAD-denominated capital gain or loss.
The calculator above fetches the Bank of Canada rate for your exact trade dates, handles weekends and public holidays by using the nearest prior business day, and shows your Canadian dollar ACB, proceeds of disposition, and resulting capital gain or loss.
Scope: One buy lot and one sell event per calculation. For partial lot dispositions, multiple purchase lots at different prices, superficial loss rule analysis, DRIP reinvestments, or ETF return-of-capital adjustments, use MyCostBase.