Last week’s post about calculating your adjusted cost base with ETFs drew some interesting comments. It’s clear that many DIY investors who use non-registered accounts were unaware of how much work is involved in accurately reporting capital gains.
Careful record-keeping is an unavoidable burden for taxable investors, but you don’t need to make it any more difficult that necessary. Yet as one reader pointed out (hat tip to Jas), some investors complicate their lives by using dividend reinvestment plans in non-registered accounts.
DRIPs allow you to receive ETF distributions—whether stock dividends, bond interest, or return of capital—in the form of new shares rather than cash. You can only receive whole shares, so if the ETF is trading at $20 and you’re eligible for $87 in distributions, you’ll receive four new shares plus $7 in cash. These plans are extremely popular with do-it-yourself investors, and they can be beneficial, since you pay no trading commissions on the new shares and your money starts compounding immediately rather than sitting idly in your account.
But although they are convenient in RRSPs and TFSAs, dividend reinvestment plans are usually not a good idea in taxable accounts. That’s because reinvested dividends must be added to the cost base of your ETFs, as Justin Bender and I explain in our white paper, As Easy As ACB (see page 9, Step 4).
Well, technically, you don’t have to increase your adjusted cost base to account for reinvested dividends. But if you don’t, you’ll pay more tax than necessary when you eventually sell the ETF shares. If you’re a long-term investor, that additional tax bill can be enormous.
The additional record-keeping caused by DRIPs was cumbersome enough when funds paid distributions quarterly or annually. But these days many ETFs make monthly payouts, which means you’ll be making 12 entries a year for every ETF that has a dividend reinvestment plan. That’s a lot of paperwork for a dubious benefit. It typically makes more sense to take your distributions in cash and add use them to purchase new shares whenever you add new money or rebalance your portfolio.
A final note: Some readers asked exactly how capital gains and losses should be reported to the Canada Revenue Agency. The CRA has produced a document called Tax Treatment of Mutual Funds for Individuals that should answer those questions. Remember to always consult an accountant or other qualified tax expert if you need specific advice.
Just found this and not sure if it is still relevant for VCN, VUN ETF’s held in a taxable BMO Investorline account.
I did phone and ask them and they say ACB is automatically calculated for me and I don’t need to worry. Of course I keep thinking I can’t really trust what the bank tells me. They only care about making money for themselves.
@techwiz: Online brokerages do seem to be better at tracking ACB than they were a couple of years ago. If you do set up DRIPs in a taxable account, I would suggest double-checking their calculations in the first year or so, and if they’re doing it correctly then you’re probably fine to continue.
I ran the numbers and verified that BMO InvestorLine actually calculates the adjusted cost base correctly. Not sure if other brokers do the same and it’s always a good idea to double check to make sure.
I have mix feelings about registering for DRIP and would recommend anyone thinking about it to understand the Pros and Cons.
Pro’s
-Commission free reinvestment of dividends (my dividends were reinvested without having to pay the 9.95 commission charge)
-Done automatically with no interaction required.
Con’s
-Might have to calculate ACB if your broker doesn’t do it for you.
-Limits the ability to use dividends to rebalance your portfolio (dividends are used to buy the same shares which generated them)
-The timing of the dividends and new shares being posted into your account can take up to 2 weeks. (example my VCN dividend which had a payout date of September 28 was not posted to my account until October 13)
Sorry for the comment on an old post, should I also avoid DRIPs on TD eseries as well in a taxable account? (Using the TD e series portfolio)
@Vivian: No, DRIPs are fine with mutual funds. There tend to be no complicated ACB issues with mutual funds, because they do all the accounting at the fund level.
I started using DRIP with TD e-Series less than a year ago with minimal transactions before coming across this article. Calculating ACB seems more difficult and time consuming so I don’t want to use DRIP. Does anyone know if TD calculates and provides the ACB to their clients? What’s the best way stop using DRIP? Would I sell all now and rebuy without DRIP? Thanks.
@Dennis: Using DRIPs with mutual funds (as opposed to ETFs) is much less problematic. No need to make any changes. Even if you do decide to cancel the DRIP, just call TD and ask them to cancel it. You certainly don’t need to sell the fund and repurchase it.
1) Does anyone know how ACB applies to individual stocks using DRIPs in a non-sheltered account?
2) At Questrade, is the displayed average price your ACB?