Sinner man...

You are absolutely correct about the share certificates in a Registered account like a 401k or and RRsp..

These accounts are trust accounts and non taxable until the cash or securities are removed from the account..

The share certificates represent the actual share and are the legal piece of paper that the holder has to identify that stock and it is serialized..

so the trust company that manages your 401k and my RRSP hold those share certificates ,that are in that account..

Without the share certificates ,they could not account legally for the shares so they MUST hold the share certificates for you to maintain the tax advantaged position for you..

You could get the actual certificates by selling the shares in the 401k ,paying the tax on them, and rebuying the shares outside the account..

The share certificate is the legal piece of paper for all share transactions..

so no they won't give you the share certificates unless you want to pay tax on them and remove them from your account..

That would be an income for you and would be taxed as income..

Shares in Tax sheltered accounts do not enjoy the benifits of capital gains or losses so you could not claim either one,,,you would get hooked on the big income ,total for the value at time of withdrawal of your KXL share from your 401k...not a good move..

Gotta fly(litterly to the airport)

Will check in later.