Money Transfer From Singapore

[iamxty]

For Singapore Residents:

I have not landed yet but just want to give an update on how to transfer your money to Canada.

DBS or POSB has a service to do this through their Canada Remit service. $0 fee, transfer on the same day.

I used this service and it works. I transferred to my friend in Toronto (for apartment deposit). She received the money the next working day, possibly on the same day (as on the DBS website) as she only checked her account yesterday.

And it’s very easy. You only need the Canadian Transit Number and the account number.

I was skeptical of using this service since I had two failed transactions before this, but that was due to wrong account number, bank name and bank address Yeah, the account number my friend gave me includes the transit number, and I have also selected wrong bank name! My friend’s bank is TD Canada Trust and I selected “TD Trust Company”, all the while it should be “Toronto-Dominion Bank”.

Ping me if you need more info regarding this.

I was thinking of getting a demand draft from my bank for the POF, but DBS Overseas Remit is by far a more secured and faster way. One task ticked off from our list

 

[MYam823]

good stuff, thanks!

 

[Skystar701]

Hi
How was the exchange rate? Same as market / google / xe.com or much lower?

Thanks

 

[nam19]

Hello,
I have a similar query. I became a PR of Canada in 2019. I landed in Feb 2020, and brought in cash with me (less than 10k). I don't remember if there was a way to declare at Airport customs that I would be doing electronic fund transfer of more than 10K after I land, so I didn't. Now, it has been a few months since I landed, but I have not transferred my remaining savings from the other country (Singapore) to Canada. My questions are -
1. I have already paid tax on my savings/income in Singapore. So I assume it would not be taxed again if I transfer that amount now. Is this correct understanding?
2. TD bank charges me $17 for each incoming wire transfer. Now, I want to transfer my remaining savings (more than 10k) in one go. But I understand that the banks must report transactions above 10K. What are the implications in this case if I transfer all amount in one go? Will I have to answer any questions to the bank or government? I am trying to avoid a scenario wherein I transfer 10K at a time and pay exchange rate plus $17 fee every time.
Thanks

 

[aamool]

Hello,
I have a similar query. I became a PR of Canada in 2019. I landed in Feb 2020, and brought in cash with me (less than 10k). I don't remember if there was a way to declare at Airport customs that I would be doing electronic fund transfer of more than 10K after I land, so I didn't. Now, it has been a few months since I landed, but I have not transferred my remaining savings from the other country (Singapore) to Canada. My questions are -
1. I have already paid tax on my savings/income in Singapore. So I assume it would not be taxed again if I transfer that amount now. Is this correct understanding?
2. TD bank charges me $17 for each incoming wire transfer. Now, I want to transfer my remaining savings (more than 10k) in one go. But I understand that the banks must report transactions above 10K. What are the implications in this case if I transfer all amount in one go? Will I have to answer any questions to the bank or government? I am trying to avoid a scenario wherein I transfer 10K at a time and pay exchange rate plus $17 fee every time.
Thanks

Hey - welcome to Canada!

I will try and answer some of your questions - having some experience transferring my savings from Singapore.

The declaration you make at customs is nothing to do with tax - it's actually tracking of cash and cash equivalents that are physically coming across the border.

About taxes

(Please note that any advice here is given with no warranties- please do homework/consult a professional to make sure it applies to your situation).
You become a tax resident in Canada when you actually moved residence, so I believe this happened for you early this year.

It's important to understand the difference between income and property (including cash, financial securities, real estate, business holdings, etc). From the day you become a Canadian PR, you are liable to pay Canadian taxes for any income (dividends, interest, and capital gains) earned after you became a resident. However, you can in most cases offset any taxes paid under dual taxation treaties. For cash, there is no tax. For other properties, there may be a capital gain element - I won't go into detail about that.

Regarding transferring cash
When I arrived (late last year), I started a newcomer account at Scotiabank - where they gave me an ultimate banking package free for a year. I've been transferring money through DBS Remit and also using a third party service called Transferwise (usually gives slightly better rates) - and pay no fees on the Canadian side (could be because I have an account type with a lot of freebies). I made around 3-4 transfers between 20 and 80k CAD. Just one time, I had my banker call me to ask for details - because of a flag from the anti-fraud department, so I had a good discussion about what it meant and why it happened.

You don't need to worry about the reporting requirement of transfers over 10k - this is just something that banks need to do as their part of fighting things like money laundering, it is an automatic thing and usually has no impact on us customers. In my case, the transfers that were from my account in Singapore were ignored. However, the first time I used Transferwise, it raised questions because apparently it was not something they were familiar with. However, all I needed to provide was some explanation, and it hardly delayed my access to my money. For subsequent transfers, I had no issues at all.

To make a long story short, as long as your money is clean and you have decent records, you don't have to worry about transferring your money. Honestly, I think there is enough sophistication for the authorities to identify huge amounts of money split into batches to be below reporting guidelines - but on the other hand, I think their idea of huge amounts is not the same as that of the average person - in the words of my banker, generally he never gets questions about 50 or 100k CAD transfers, so the only reason I got a question was because the transfer was unconventional.

I think this post is already too long, but if you need further info - don't hesitate to PM me.

All the best.