# ETF tax slips (T3) late?



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

TD Waterhouse has already posted my T5. But I'm still waiting for the T3 for all the taxable characteristics from ETFs.

Their notice about tax dates says the T3 will be "Mailed by April 2, 2013 by the fund company". So much for completing my taxes early... so this means I have to wait for iShares & BMO to mail me the slips, in about a month?

Are they always this late in the year? Have any of you already received a T3?


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## caricole (Mar 12, 2012)

If you have Mutual funds in your brokers account, the deadlin for mailing the T3 is March 31

ETF's are mutual funds

You seems to be NEW to this bussines

Read carefully the TDW papers and notes and you will find they advise you of any taxslips missing up and till the time the last one for your account is mailed

TDW have always provided an impeccable servic in that department

I will do my taxes somewhere around Apris 5-10 *when I am sure I get ALL the slips as every year*

By next year you will have learned....LOLOL


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

So then it looks like one really does have to wait until April to do the taxes (if you own ETFs). Darn, I was hoping to get it done earlier.

TD says the mailing deadline is April 2 (see this PDF), but I was hoping that's a worst case scenario and maybe it would arrive earlier.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Unlikely to occur earlier, but could in some circumstances. The brokers have to wait for the ETF companies to send the information to them first before the brokers can issue the T3 slips. Also a word of caution - It is not unusual to see corrected/amended T3 slips from time to time...... a week or two later. IOW, don't rush to file your tax return until circa Apr 20th. There really is no hurry unless one is going to be be out-of-town/out-of-country, is there? After all, everyone should be trying to manage their tax affairs such that they OWE the government a litle bit of money rather than getting refunds (the latter being an interest free loan to the government).


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

To extend Alta's response,

T3's can only be issued after the corporate taxes have been filed and reviewed by the CRA. This causes the delay.


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## Squash500 (May 16, 2009)

AltaRed said:


> Unlikely to occur earlier, but could in some circumstances. The brokers have to wait for the ETF companies to send the information to them first before the brokers can issue the T3 slips. Also a word of caution - It is not unusual to see corrected/amended T3 slips from time to time...... a week or two later. IOW, don't rush to file your tax return until circa Apr 20th. There really is no hurry unless one is going to be be out-of-town/out-of-country, is there? After all, everyone should be trying to manage their tax affairs such that they OWE the government a litle bit of money rather than getting refunds (the latter being an interest free loan to the government).


Excellent post AR. I always seem to get these corrected/amended T3 slips every year. That IMHO is one of the pitfalls of owning ETF's. Circa Apr 20 sounds about right to file your tax return.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

AltaRed said:


> Unlikely to occur earlier, but could in some circumstances. The brokers have to wait for the ETF companies to send the information to them first before the brokers can issue the T3 slips. Also a word of caution - It is not unusual to see corrected/amended T3 slips from time to time...... a week or two later. IOW, don't rush to file your tax return until circa Apr 20th. There really is no hurry unless one is going to be be out-of-town/out-of-country, is there? After all, everyone should be trying to manage their tax affairs such that they OWE the government a litle bit of money rather than getting refunds (the latter being an interest free loan to the government).


Good info. Yes, they sometimes re-issue them... my dad ended up getting audited a few years ago because he filed his taxes with the first T3. Then another one came (which he missed or ignored) that has materially different information. So to the CRA it looked like he was under-reporting his taxable distributions. This unfortunately soured his opinion of ETFs.

Myself, I * will * be out of the country, which is why I have a problem and can't just wait for April 20.
http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showthread.php/14769-Filing-taxes-early

In that thread I asked for tips about filing taxes early. The consensus seems to be that I should calculate my approx taxes, conservatively, and make a payment to CRA without filing the return. Later when I have all T3s I can do the proper filing, and CRA would refund the difference for anything I've overpaid.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

james4beach said:


> TD Waterhouse has already posted my T5. But I'm still waiting for the T3 for all the taxable characteristics from ETFs....
> 
> Are they always this late in the year? Have any of you already received a T3?


Yes to being late and no to having received a T3 form.

This question came up last year. When I checked my records at the time, the schedule was:

1) Feb 16, 2012 - annual trading summary and the dividend T5 form plus summary. 
2) Mar 6th - the split share T5 plus summary was added.
3) Mar 16th - the first trust T3 plus summary was added.
4) April 18th - the second trust T3 and the ETF T3 plus summaries had been added.

The ETF T3 is always the last so in 2012 since I only had one ETF in my cash account and room in my TFSA, I moved it into the TFSA.

As near as I can tell, after this final year of having to wait, next year and onwards the date for all the forms to be in will move earlier as I recall that the second trust T3 was available at least two weeks before the ETF T3. (*crossing my fingers*) :biggrin:


So far, this year it's running a bit later than last year as the annual trading summary and T5 plus summary were posted Feb 21st.


Cheers


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

I can understand if a T3 from an ETF comes later. Is there a difference if I were to have an TD index fund (e.g., TD e-Series fund). Would TD issue those earlier?


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

^^^^^

I'd think the timing would be similar to the ETF. 

Both an ETF and TD are both financial companies so I'd think their systems would be relatively on par plus it's a pretty similar business so I'm thinking there's not a lot of room for faster. Unless maybe there's a time saving by TD Asset Management notifying TDW?


Maybe someone with such a fund can post the timing here?


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