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Freetrade

ShareCalc imports the CSV download of Freetrade's Activity Feed. Use the activity of your General Investment Account (GIA) only: an ISA or SIPP is outside capital gains tax, and the file has no column saying which account a row belongs to.

Export your activity

  1. In the Freetrade app, switch to your GIA.
  2. Open Activity.
  3. Select the download button at the top right.
  4. Choose All Activity.
  5. Save the CSV file.

Freetrade's own instructions for downloading the Activity Feed show the current screens.

All Activity covers the account from the day it was opened. Use it rather than a shorter range: share matching needs every purchase of a holding, and a sale can be matched with purchases in the 30 days after it.

Import

Add the file to an import and leave the format set to Auto-detect, or select Freetrade CSV. Both the older and the newer column layouts are recognised.

Coverage

Freetrade type Imported as
ORDER A buy or sell. Stamp duty is its tax. In a foreign share, the trade is in the share's currency and the pounds paid or received, including Freetrade's FX fee, are its currency conversion.
FREESHARE_ORDER A buy at zero cost (see below).
DIVIDEND A dividend, gross, with any tax withheld, and its ex-date. A foreign dividend is in its own currency, with the pounds received as its currency conversion.
INTEREST_FROM_CASH Broker interest.
TOP_UP, WITHDRAWAL A deposit or withdrawal.
STOCK_SPLIT A split or reverse split, with its ratio. A new ISIN is recorded as the same security. Cash for a fractional share is a capital distribution as a separate transaction.
MONTHLY_STATEMENT, TAX_CERTIFICATE Skipped: they link to documents rather than record transactions.

Any other type is reported in the import messages and not imported.

Timestamps in the file are in UTC. ShareCalc converts them to UK time, so a trade late in the evening during British Summer Time can fall on the next day, as it does for tax purposes.

Free shares

A free share, for signing up, topping up or referring a friend, is imported at zero cost. No cash leaves the account, and Freetrade says the whole value of a free share may be subject to capital gains tax when it's sold. The import message gives the share's value when you received it. If you treat the share as acquired at that value, for example because you declared it as income, change the transaction's cost.

Limitations

  • Freetrade says the Activity Feed CSV isn't enough on its own for a tax return. It leaves out transfers of holdings into or out of Freetrade, and may leave out takeovers and other corporate actions. If any of your holdings had one, check your contract notes and statements, and ask Freetrade for an activity statement. Add what's missing manually or with a ShareCalc CSV.
  • A stock split into a new ISIN is imported as a split of the old holding, and the old and new ISINs are recorded as the same security. A split paying cash as part of its terms is a reorganisation rather than a split, and isn't imported. Neither is a split whose holdings before and after don't match its ratio, nor one where cash for a fractional share leaves you with no more shares than before (or, for a reverse split, no fewer). Each is reported in the import messages for you to enter manually.
  • Stock split rows are read from the column names alone: we haven't yet seen a real export containing one. Check each imported split against the company's announcement.
  • The file has no asset type. Every order is imported for a share or fund; check the type of each created asset.

Troubleshooting

A row wasn't imported. The import message names the row and the reason. If it's a transaction ShareCalc doesn't recognise, enter it manually and check the import messages for anything else it affects.

The cash balance goes negative. Check that you chose All Activity, and whether holdings or cash were transferred in from another provider: transfers aren't in the file.

A trade's Total Amount doesn't match. For a trade in pounds, ShareCalc checks the Total Amount against the shares' value and stamp duty, and reports any difference. The trade is imported from the shares' value, so compare it with the contract note.

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