Forget to declare furniture, jewelry and money will follow after landing

[Siby Arasu]

Hello everybody,

I did a big mistake when I landed in Canada last October 2011, I didn't know that I have to prepare a furniture list, an appraisal for my wife jewelry , and also I didn't know that I have to declare how much money I will transfer later other than the money I brought in when I landed coz I thought I would do wire transfer from my home bank without any problem, and both the immigration officer and custom officer in Toronto Pearson airport asked me only about the money I brought with me, no single question about any money will fallow.

Now I have a 12K CAD$ worth furniture, and 100K CAD$ worth Jewelry, in addition to more than 350K CAD Cash left in home country bank.
If the above amounts are taxable due to my ignorance this will be a huge loss especially that I earned all above before landing. any advice?

 

[steaky]

No worries! As long as the shipment has not yet arrived in Canada, you can still rectify the mistake. Go to the nearest Canada Border Service Agency office in your city as soon as possible to submit your B4 to declare your furniture list and any other items (such as jewelry). If you are wiring the money, you don't have to declare it yourself.

 

[Siby Arasu]

Ok, the problem is even if the bank will declare that money transfer to CRA in my behalf, is this money taxable? I want to know before I loss a huge amout in tax from my 12 years of hard working at oil rigs I earned before even my feet stepped in Canada.

 

[CanV]

No tax on money transfers unless it's income earned in the tax year in question. You can sell the stuff you mentioned and transfer the money, but I doubt you can bring in any of it to the country as goods to follow since you did not declare them when you initially landed. You can still bring them in but you may be taxed.