Trading 212¶

cgt-calc reads the CSV account history exported by Trading 212. Give it a directory rather than a single file because a complete account history may require several exports.

Export the Invest account only. Do not include ISA activity: income and capital gains from investments in an ISA do not need to be declared. If you also export the ISA for your own records, keep it in a separate directory. The CSV does not identify the account type, so cgt-calc cannot separate the accounts later.

Export your account history¶

1. In Trading 212, open Menu, then History.
2. Select the export button.
3. Choose the date range. Exporting the history since the account was opened is the safest option; see Before you start for why earlier transactions may be needed.
4. Select every available data category so that orders, cash transactions, dividends and interest are included.
5. Download the CSV file.
6. If your complete history requires multiple exports, repeat the process with consecutive date ranges, making sure there are no gaps.

The official Trading 212 export instructions show the current controls. Use the account-history export, not a PDF statement or the separate pie export.

Prepare the directory¶

Put the CSV files directly in one directory, for example:

trading212/
├── from_2022-04-06_to_2023-04-05.csv
├── from_2023-04-06_to_2024-04-05.csv
└── from_2024-04-06_to_2025-04-05.csv

The base filenames do not matter. cgt-calc reads every CSV file directly inside the directory, but it does not search subdirectories. Do not add unrelated CSV files, and make sure there are no gaps between date ranges. Matching transactions in overlapping files are reconciled using their recorded contents and the number of copies in each export. For ordinary transactions, cgt-calc ignores fractional seconds when matching overlapping files, so older exports without milliseconds still match newer ones. Reorganisation rows use their exact times, because those times are needed to validate the event. IDs help distinguish otherwise identical fills, but are not treated as globally unique because Trading 212 can reuse one ID for different transactions. If overlapping files represent one split in both the older one-row form and the newer open/close form, cgt-calc refuses rather than risk applying it twice; replace them with one complete export covering the named dates.

One overlap cannot be reconciled: if two exports give the same transaction different IDs, cgt-calc reads them as two separate fills and counts both. Reorganisation rows are refused rather than doubled when that happens, but an ordinary trade is not, so check the final portfolio against Trading 212 if you keep overlapping exports.

You can compare the structure with this sanitised example export.

Generate the report¶

For the 2024/25 tax year, run:

cgt-calc --year 2024 --trading212-dir trading212/

--year 2024 means 6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025. Follow Generate and Review a Report to find and check the output.

Supported activity¶

The Trading 212 parser currently handles:

Stock splits and share consolidations¶

Trading 212 exports a share reorganisation as two rows: Stock split close states your complete position before it and Stock split open states your complete position after it. Both are needed, and cgt-calc combines them into one event. They can be written in either order, and they can fall in different exports, which is why the whole directory is read before they are paired.

Forward splits and consolidations are both supported, including fractional holdings and ratios that are not whole numbers. The event is not a sale or a purchase: no money moves, no gain or loss arises, and the pooled cost is unchanged. Only the number of units changes, so a later disposal takes a different share of the same cost (TCGA 1992 s127, CG51805). The report shows the event on its own, with the counts either side and the ratio.

The Total, Price / share and Exchange rate columns on those rows are checked against each other and against the counts, and are not read as proceeds or as a new cost. Both currency columns have to be filled in: a price with no stated currency cannot be checked against a total, and an exchange rate does not supply the missing name. A row that states a result, a fee, a tax or a cash movement is refused: a consolidation that pays cash may be a part disposal rather than a reorganisation, and that is not the same calculation.

Every original split row is checked before overlapping copies are removed. If a half is missing, if two halves cannot be matched one to one, or if the two rows disagree about the ticker, identifier, currencies, time or value of the position, cgt-calc stops and names the rows, fields and values. Check those rows against Trading 212 and replace partial files with one complete export covering the event date.

If you hold one security under two tickers that cgt-calc combines, Trading 212 may state a reorganisation once for each listing, and both then apply to the one holding. If they fall on the same day, cgt-calc stops with has more than one reorganisation. If they fall on different days, it applies the reorganisation twice, with no error. Check that the report shows it once. If cgt-calc stops or the report shows it twice, remove the Stock split close and Stock split open rows of one listing from a copy of the export: the other listing's rows give the ratio, and cgt-calc applies it to the whole holding.

Dates and time zones¶

Trading 212 timestamps every transaction in UTC. cgt-calc converts each one to UK time, GMT in winter and BST in summer, before taking the date. The tax year boundary and the same-day and 30-day matching rules all run on UK calendar days, and the boundary always falls inside BST, so a transaction stamped after 23:00 UTC on 5 April belongs to the following tax year.

Tickers and exchange listings¶

Trading 212 names a security by the ticker of the listing you traded, so one security can appear under two tickers: the German line of a US share carries its German code, and a fund can have a different ticker for each exchange and currency it trades in. cgt-calc pools, matches and prices holdings by ticker, so it rewrites the aliases it has confirmed to one ticker for the security, and the report shows one holding rather than two. That ticker may not be the one you traded: NVD under US67066G1040 is reported as NVDA. On a row that names its ISIN, the rewrite is scoped to that ISIN: the same ticker code under another security is left alone.

Rows from your other brokers are combined in the same way, and a row without an ISIN is matched by its ticker alone. Two things can then go wrong, neither with an error:

• If another broker uses either ticker of a pair for a different security, the two securities are pooled as one holding.
• If cgt-calc cannot identify another broker's ticker, that row stays a holding of its own until you add the ticker to your ISIN to ticker mapping.

Check each holding and disposal in the report against your records.

If one broker pays a fund's distribution in dollars and another pays it in pounds on the same day, cgt-calc stops with Cannot combine amounts in different currencies. See Income reported in more than one currency.

Only confirmed pairs are rewritten. For any other pair:

• cgt-calc stops where your exports disagree about a security: an unrecognised second ticker for one ISIN, or one ticker used for two ISINs. It refuses rather than guess, because combining the wrong two holdings, or splitting one, changes the gain.
• The security is kept as two holdings, with no error, where the bundled list of securities, or a row you added to your ISIN to ticker mapping, gives it both tickers. Each holding has its own cost, so do not rely on the gains calculated for them. The summary may show only one of the tickers if you have sold the other, so check your exports for one ISIN with two different tickers.

In either case, please open an issue with the ISIN and both tickers.

Dividends and foreign tax¶

On a dividend row, both the Total and the Price / share are after foreign tax, such as US tax on a US share. cgt-calc records the dividend before that tax and the tax withheld as tax at source, as it does for other brokers. The report's dividend income then includes the tax, and where cgt-calc knows the double taxation treaty with the share's country, so do its treaty figures.

Tax already in your account's currency, such as US tax in a dollar account, is used as it is. When the tax is given in the share's currency instead, cgt-calc converts it with the row's own figures: the tax is the same share of the Total as it is of the number of shares times the price per share. The dividend before tax less the tax is then the amount you received. For example, 10 shares at $0.85 after tax, with $1.50 withheld and £6.80 received, are recorded as a £8.00 dividend and £1.20 of tax at source. The row's Exchange rate is not used.

cgt-calc applies treaty relief only when the tax matches the treaty rate to within a penny. Otherwise, it prints a warning and leaves the treaty out of the report. That happens when the tax was withheld at another rate, as on some depositary receipts. It can also happen with an older export: those seen up to early 2024 round the price per share to cents, which makes the converted tax slightly off on a dividend from many shares. If the export is old, replace it with a new export of the same period, which gives the price in full. Otherwise, check the tax withheld in Trading 212's record of the dividend and work out the relief outside cgt-calc.

If the row's figures do not allow a conversion, for example because the number of shares is missing, cgt-calc records the amount received and prints a warning naming the dividend. Add the tax withheld to your dividend income yourself and, if you use --income, to the figure you pass.

A row that takes back an earlier dividend is recorded at the amount taken back, with a warning. Its tax is not converted, so the report keeps the original dividend's tax at source and any treaty relief on it. The report's dividend income and tax at source are then both too high by the original dividend's tax, and its treaty relief by the relief on the original dividend, which the PDF report shows beside it. That relief is not more than the tax, apart from a penny of rounding, so the taxable dividends are not understated. If you copy these figures from the report, take the original dividend's tax out of the dividend income and the tax at source, and its relief out of the treaty relief. The --income estimate includes the extra income too, which makes the estimate slightly high.

Currency conversions¶

A Currency conversion row moves cash between two currencies of your account. cgt-calc takes the amount in Currency conversion from amount off the balance of that currency and adds the amount in Currency conversion to amount to the balance of the other. The fee is the row's Total, charged in the currency of that total, which is the currency you converted to in the exports examined. cgt-calc does not treat the conversion as a disposal and reports no gain or loss on it.

Known limitations¶

• Some tax withheld is left in the amount received and does not appear separately in the report: tax in pounds or pence, whatever your account's currency, tax with no currency given, and tax on fund interest distributions (Dividend (Interest)). Tax in pounds may be UK tax, for example on a property income distribution, which is not foreign tax. Add that tax to your income yourself and, if you use --income, to the figure you pass.
• cgt-calc does not use a dividend row's label to tell income from capital. Dividend (Tax exempted) is on rows where Trading 212 records no tax withheld, and the exports examined use it both for ordinary dividends and for repayments of share premium. cgt-calc records either as dividend income. Whether such a repayment is income or capital for UK tax depends on how the company made it under the law of its own country (SAIM5210), which the row does not show, so check the company's announcement of the payment. If it was capital, it is a capital distribution (TCGA 1992 s122) and not dividend income: take it out of the dividend income you report and work out the capital gains treatment yourself.
• The treaty applied to a dividend follows the first two letters of the share's ISIN, which do not always show where the company is based. A dividend on the New York shares of a Dutch company, for example, can be given the US treaty without a warning; see Income reported in more than one currency.
• Share transfers between accounts or brokers, labelled Transfer in or Transfer out, are not supported, and cgt-calc stops at the row.
• One run covers one Trading 212 account. --trading212-dir takes a single directory and every file in it is read as one account, because nothing in the CSV identifies which account a row belongs to. If you hold the same security in two Trading 212 accounts, their exports cannot be combined in one run: a reorganisation of that security appears twice, and cgt-calc refuses rather than guess which half belongs to which account.
• A reorganisation cgt-calc cannot pair is refused while the CSV is read, which is before the calculator assembles the day. A RAW STOCK_SPLIT row, which overrides an unprovable reorganisation from any other input, therefore cannot override this one.
• The same reorganisation reported by two brokers cannot be told from two separate events, so cgt-calc refuses a day with more than one for the same security.
• A known ticker change is supported because cgt-calc applies its built-in ticker renames before pairing. For example, FB on a row carrying Meta's ISIN is treated as META; an unknown ticker change is refused.
• A genuine ISIN change is always refused: if both halves state an ISIN and the values differ, cgt-calc will not pair them. Moving a holding between two different securities needs relationship data the export does not carry.
• A reorganisation of a very small holding can leave the ratio unrecoverable, because the exported counts are rounded. cgt-calc still calculates it exactly when your whole holding is the one the export describes; otherwise it stops rather than guess the ratio. Ratios beyond about 1,000 to 1 are outside the range it searches, and one of those applied to a holding of around a hundred-thousandth of a share is a narrow edge case where the nearest ratio within range may be used instead of the event being reported as unrecoverable.
• A trade of the same security stamped between the two halves of a reorganisation is refused: there is no telling whether its count is in the units before it or after it. The same applies to a same-day trade from another input that carries no comparable time.
• A consolidation paid for partly in cash needs checking by hand. Where the cash is a return of value rather than income it is a capital distribution, and the event is a part disposal (TCGA 1992 s122) rather than a cost-preserving reorganisation. Trading 212 labels such a payment Dividend or an adjustment, which parses cleanly, so nothing here will notice.
• Share distributions, labelled Stock distribution or Custom stock distribution, are not supported, and cgt-calc stops at the row. In the exports examined, Trading 212 uses the label for a stock dividend, an issue of warrants, the new shares of a company separation and the shares received in a takeover. These are not all taxed in the same way, and the row does not say which it is. A distribution alongside a consolidation is usually a company separation, where the pooled cost has to be apportioned between the two resulting holdings by market value rather than preserved whole. Once you have established what the distribution was, and if one of the RAW actions records it, you can remove its row from a working copy of the export and enter the distribution in a separate file passed with --raw-file; see Combining RAW with a broker export. No RAW action records a takeover paid in shares; see the next item.
• A takeover paid in shares is not supported. Trading 212 exports the shares you gave up as a Market sell with a price and a total of zero, and cgt-calc stops at a sale like that: read as a sale, the row would report the whole cost of those shares as a loss you did not make. The new shares arrive on a Stock distribution row or, for a takeover some years ago, on no row at all. cgt-calc cannot calculate those two holdings. To calculate the rest of the account, leave both out: in a working copy of the export, remove every row for the old shares and for the new ones except their dividends, not only the row cgt-calc stopped at. The report and any tax it estimates then leave out every gain and loss on those two holdings, including a later sale of the new shares: work the two holdings out by hand (consider professional advice) and add their gains and losses to the report's figures. The cash from the rows you remove is also missing from the balance cgt-calc keeps. If that takes the balance below zero, the run stops with Reached a negative balance; run it again with --no-balance-check, which turns the check off for every input in the run.
• The export for a Trading 212 contract for difference account uses a different, record-based CSV format that this parser does not support.

Do not delete an unsupported transaction from the export to make the calculation run, unless you record it in a RAW file as described above for share distributions, or leave both securities out as described above for a takeover. The missing activity could make the resulting holdings and gains incorrect.

Troubleshooting¶

Unknown column(s) or Unknown action¶

Trading 212 occasionally changes its export format. First, upgrade cgt-calc using the same method you used to install it and try again. If the error remains, open a GitHub issue containing:

• your cgt-calc version from cgt-calc --version;
• the complete error message;
• the CSV header for an unknown column; or
• a sanitised failing row for an unknown action.

Do not upload an unredacted account export: it can contain transaction IDs and other financial information.

A transaction is described differently by two exports¶

Two exports give the same Trading 212 transaction ID for what looks like the same transaction, at the same second and for the same action, but they disagree about its details. That normally means one export was taken after Trading 212 restated the transaction, for example after correcting a fee.

cgt-calc cannot tell which version is right, so it keeps both. Your totals may therefore count that transaction twice. Re-export the overlapping period so that every file describes it the same way, replace the older file, and run the calculation again.

A same-second warning about identical transactions appears¶

cgt-calc found an unusually large group of otherwise identical transactions within one second. It kept the correct number, so the totals are unchanged.

Check that the rows in the named files are genuine. If they are, please open an issue; otherwise replace the affected exports with a fresh one.

No transactions are detected¶

Check that the directory contains CSV files directly, rather than inside another directory. The file extension is matched case-insensitively, so .csv, .CSV and mixed-case variants all work. Also check that you passed the directory itself to --trading212-dir, not the path to one CSV file.

The balance or portfolio looks wrong¶

Re-export the history with all data categories selected. Check for a missing date range, files from the wrong account, or an unsupported action listed above.

Tried to sell¶

The history does not hold the shares being sold. Check first for a missing date range or a missing file. If the shares came from a takeover paid in shares, the export may have no row for them: see Known limitations, and do not add a purchase for them to make the calculation run.

A total does not match its shares and price¶

cgt-calc warns when a trade's Total differs from its number of shares times its price, after the exchange rate and fees, by more than the rounding of those figures can explain. The warning names the transaction and gives both totals. cgt-calc continues and uses the Total and the number of shares in the row, not the price. Compare the row with the transaction in Trading 212. If the total and the number of shares there are the ones in the row, the report is unaffected. If either differs, export the period again, or correct it in a working copy of the export, and run the calculation again.