Superficial loss rule in Canada: the 2026 dates and the traps

In Canada, a capital loss on a sale is denied when you, or a person affiliated with you, buy the same property within 30 days before or after the sale and still own it 30 days after the sale. The denied loss is called a superficial loss. For the 2026 tax year, the last trade date for a share or ETF that settles T+1 is Wednesday, December 30, 2026.

This page is about Canadian taxes. Wash-Sale Guardian's checker works for US taxes today; a Canadian superficial-loss checker is in development.

The rule in plain words

Under the definition of "superficial loss" in section 54 of the Income Tax Act, a loss on selling property is superficial when both of these are true:

• During the period that starts 30 days before and ends 30 days after the sale, you or a person affiliated with you acquired the same property, or identical property (the "substituted property").
• At the end of that period, you or a person affiliated with you still owns that property, or has a right to acquire it.

A superficial loss is deemed to be nil under section 40(2)(g)(i), so you cannot claim it that year. CRA says the same in its guide to capital losses.

An affiliated person includes your spouse or common-law partner and a corporation you control (section 251.1). CRA's list also includes a trust and its majority-interest beneficiary.

How it differs from the US wash-sale rule

• You have to still hold it. The Canadian rule only applies if you, your spouse or your plans still own shares of it at the end of the 30 days after the sale, including shares held from before. If you buy it back and then sell all of your shares of it before then, there is no superficial loss; keep some, and part of the loss can still be denied. The US wash-sale rule has no such holding test.
• Average cost, not lots. Canada pools identical shares and works out an average adjusted cost base (ACB) per share across your non-registered holdings (CRA, Schedule 3). The US matches specific lots, usually first in, first out.
• Settlement date. Dealers and advisors generally say CRA counts the 30 days from the settlement date of each trade, not the trade date. The old CRA bulletin on this (IT-133) is no longer on the website and we have not found a current CRA statement, so treat settlement date as the likely position and be careful near the edges. The US rule uses trade dates.
• Canadian dollars. Amounts in a foreign currency are generally converted at the Bank of Canada rate on the day of the transaction, and CRA accepts another widely available, verifiable rate (CRA, Schedule 3). Whether "the day of the transaction" means the trade date or the settlement date for shares is not stated on that page.

Where the denied loss goes

If you are the person who bought the replacement, you can usually add the denied loss to its adjusted cost base (section 53(1)(f)). The statute says "of any taxpayer", so if your spouse's loss was denied because you bought the shares, it is added to your ACB. The loss is deferred until you sell, not erased.

A partial sale: CRA's formula, with an example

When you sell some shares, or buy fewer than you sold, the loss is denied in part. CRA's administrative formula, as set out in a CIBC explainer and not a statute, is:

Superficial loss = (the least of S, P and B) ÷ S × L
S = shares sold · P = shares acquired in the 61-day period (30 days before to 30 days after) · B = shares of that property held at the end of the period · L = the loss before the rule

P and B count you, your spouse and your plans together: CRA says to treat all the parties involved as if they were one person. B includes shares held from before the period.

Example. You sell 100 shares of a stock at a $1,000 loss on December 1. On December 11 you buy 40 shares of the same stock and still hold them 30 days after the sale. S = 100, P = 40, B = 40, so the least is 40 and the superficial loss is 40 ÷ 100 × $1,000 = $400. You can claim the other $600. The $400 is added to the ACB of the 40 shares, which is $10 per share.

The purchase does not have to come after the sale. If you already held 100 shares, bought 100 more on November 20 and sold 100 on December 1 at a $1,000 loss, S = 100, P = 100 and B = 100 (you still hold 100 at the end of the period), so all $1,000 is denied even though you bought nothing after the sale. Without the earlier 100, selling on December 1 would leave you holding none, B would be 0, and none of the loss would be superficial. The same CIBC explainer says CRA treats the strict reading of the law as correct and allows this smaller denial as a concession.

RRSP, TFSA and other registered accounts

A re-buy by your own RRSP or TFSA can trigger the rule on a loss in your taxable account. Dealers explain it this way: the plan is a trust of which you are the majority-interest beneficiary, so it is an affiliated person. Because the plan has no ACB, they say the denied loss is permanently lost rather than deferred. That is the same shape as the US IRA trap.

What we could and could not confirm: CIBC's explainer names RRSPs and TFSAs, and the AdjustedCostBase.ca blog says a transaction in a registered account can trigger the rule for a non-registered account. In a 2022 technical interpretation (2022-0940941C6, from the APFF roundtable of October 7, 2022), CRA counted a purchase by the seller's RRSP and split the denied loss among the seller's, the spouse's and the RRSP's shares in proportion to the shares each held. It doesn't say the RRSP's part is lost; dealers say so because gains and losses inside the plan aren't taxed. We found little for an RESP, an FHSA or a spouse's registered plan. Treat any of them as a trap and ask a tax professional.

Moving a security that is at a loss into an RRSP or TFSA in kind is a separate case. Secondary sources say the loss is also denied, citing section 40(2)(g)(iv), which we have not read.

The 2026 year-end dates

Canadian equities have settled T+1 since May 27, 2024. The 2026 TSX holiday schedule (TSX calendar) closes the market on Friday, December 25 and Monday, December 28, 2026 (and Thursday, December 24 closes early). January 1, 2027 is a Friday and is normally a holiday, but the 2027 calendar was not yet published when we checked. Brokers publish their own year-end cut-off notices, and those are what you should follow.

US-listed shares also settle T+1, and US markets trade on both December 30 and 31, 2026. Mutual funds, options and bonds can settle on different cycles, so check yours.

Your T5008 may not show your ACB

CRA says the amount in box 20 of a T5008 "may or may not reflect your adjusted cost base" and that you must make the adjustments. The page does not mention superficial losses. A broker can only see its own accounts, so it cannot know about your spouse's purchases, your other brokers or your registered plans. That cross-account check is on you.

Before you sell at a loss

• ☐ List every purchase of the same security in the 30 days before and the 30 days after your planned sale, in your accounts, your spouse’s accounts and your RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, FHSA and RESP.
• ☐ Include dividend reinvestments and scheduled automatic purchases, which count as purchases.
• ☐ Ask whether you, your spouse or your plans will still hold any shares of it 30 days after the sale, including shares held from before. If none, the rule does not apply to that loss.
• ☐ Count the days from settlement dates, not trade dates, and write down the first clean re-buy date.
• ☐ Work out your average cost per share across all your non-registered accounts before you trust any broker figure.
• ☐ Check whether a replacement might count as identical property, and keep a note of why you decided it did not. The same company’s shares on a US exchange (for example RY on the TSX and the NYSE) are the same property; a Canadian depositary receipt (CDR) may not be.

What Wash-Sale Guardian does today

Wash-Sale Guardian's checker is for US taxes today. A Canadian superficial-loss checker is in development. The US checker reads your broker's CSV files in your browser, nothing uploaded, and it applies the US rule, not the Canadian one, so do not use it for a Canadian return.

Read the US guides

Not tax advice. Sources: ITA s. 54 · ITA s. 40 · ITA s. 53 · ITA s. 251.1 · CRA, capital losses. Confirm your own situation with a tax professional.

Frequently asked questions