Use the relevant plan and award records, evidence of acquisition or exercise where applicable, sale records and the actual payment path. Explain the sequence for the instrument actually received.
Reconcile the amounts rather than skipping stages
Identify any documented cost or withholding affecting the proceeds without inventing a tax calculation. A matching brokerage balance is helpful evidence but does not alone explain the original entitlement or the contribution to the enterprise.
A sales forecast, valuation slogan or unexplained chart is not interchangeable with that evidence. Where Canadian dollars were converted to U.S. dollars, include the conversion confirmation so the amounts reconcile. Lawful source also reaches back to how the shares were first acquired.
Retain the explanation of material revisions and the supporting records instead of silently replacing a total. Review the operative project and investment documents and the relevant job analysis and supporting evidence. Keep the real dates and figures rather than presenting a simplified version. An award granted as options, restricted stock and performance units each leaves a different paper trail, so identify which instrument was actually held before assembling the file. A single employer summary statement showing a net payout figure cannot stand in for the underlying grant agreement, vesting record and exercise notice that establish when the entitlement actually became the investor's own property. Where vesting and sale happened in separate tax years, keep the records for both periods rather than only the year the funds moved.