Money savings declaration/confirmation for newcomers

[zuroin]

Hi there,

I'll be in Canada in 1 month or so and plan to work by work permit and one day I will submit for PR.

I have some savings in cash (US$50k) and in my local bank account (US$15k) and I would like to put them into a Canadian bank account, so I can pay for rent and accumulate for a mortgage, etc.

So, my questions are:
- What is the procedure for putting my savings into a Canadian bank? (e.g do I need to convert to CAD)
- Should I pay any taxes for that? Or how to report it correctly?
- Should I confirm this money somehow? (e.g. should "statement turnover on the accounts" from local bank work)

Thank you!

 

[Laidrs]

basket random​

I'll be in Canada in 1 month or so and plan to work by work permit and one day I will submit for PR.

I think this is very necessary

 

[moscatojuices]

Hi there,

I'll be in Canada in 1 month or so and plan to work by work permit and one day I will submit for PR.

I have some savings in cash (US$50k) and in my local bank account (US$15k) and I would like to put them into a Canadian bank account, so I can pay for rent and accumulate for a mortgage, etc.

So, my questions are:
- What is the procedure for putting my savings into a Canadian bank? (e.g do I need to convert to CAD)
- Should I pay any taxes for that? Or how to report it correctly?
- Should I confirm this money somehow? (e.g. should "statement turnover on the accounts" from local bank work)

Thank you!

There's nothing required on your side. All you have to do is transfer the money from your US bank to your Canadian bank and it's done. No taxes, disclosures or other bullshit required. I've done nearly $100k myself and nobody blinked - the only time it's going to matter is when you take out a mortgage and the bank wants to track exactly where those funds came from if they haven't been in your account for 90 days.

If you're bringing cash then you need to declare it at the airport and provide credible explanations and possible evidence about how you earned that money. But you would be really stupid to carry that amount of cash tbh, you're just asking for trouble. Do yourself a favour - open your Canadian bank account and just transfer it from your source account.

 

[caninfoseeker]

Hi there,

I'll be in Canada in 1 month or so and plan to work by work permit and one day I will submit for PR.

I have some savings in cash (US$50k) and in my local bank account (US$15k) and I would like to put them into a Canadian bank account, so I can pay for rent and accumulate for a mortgage, etc.

So, my questions are:
- What is the procedure for putting my savings into a Canadian bank? (e.g do I need to convert to CAD)
- Should I pay any taxes for that? Or how to report it correctly?
- Should I confirm this money somehow? (e.g. should "statement turnover on the accounts" from local bank work)

Thank you!

1. There is no tax when you bring in money or other valuables into canada. After you arrive here you will be taxed on your income in Canada. After you get PR you will be taxed on global income.
2. You can open both USD and CAD accounts but in Canada you only need CAD account
3. Cash above 10kcad requires declaration and source of funds may be asked.
Disclaimer : not professional advice, only discussion to acquire knowledge

 

[steaky]

2. You can open both USD and CAD accounts but in Canada you only need CAD account

Having USD account in Canada can be handy especially if you have transactions in USD.

 

[caninfoseeker]

Having USD account in Canada can be handy especially if you have transactions in USD.

Fully agree because markup on forex sale and purchase is too high

 

[zuroin]

@moscatojuices @caninfoseeker Thank you for the detailed response, it is super helpful!

I got that bringing too much cash is not a good idea, but what do you think about cryptocurrency? Let's say I withdraw from Binance to a Canadian bank account, should I explain the source?
I have some funds in USDT and trying to find a better way - to withdraw to the bank account using SWIFT (do there some other options?), or just exchange to cash and put it in the bank account (which is not the best if I get it right)

 

[caninfoseeker]

In the first place how would you transfer money into your binance account?

 

[uerceg]

I've done nearly $100k myself and nobody blinked - the only time it's going to matter is when you take out a mortgage and the bank wants to track exactly where those funds came from if they haven't been in your account for 90 days.

Hi @moscatojuices,

This part caught my attention, thank you for sharing the experience with us. I have a few follow up questions:

1. Did you make this transfer once you moved to Canada and opened Canadian bank account? If at some later point, when exactly?
2. Did you need to announce this transfer to your bank or did you need to do any paperwork for this having in mind that it's more than 10K? I do read online that usually banks handle this under the hood (informing FINTRAC), but just curious was that true in your case.
3. Did you do the tax declaration for the year in which you made this transfer to your Canadian bank account? In case you did, did you need to state this transfer in any way as part of your tax declaration or did CRA ever asked you anything about it?
4. Interest of banks (and maybe CRA?) for history of funds on your account which are there for less than 90 days that you mention - is this something which you know out of your own experience (when you might have been chasing the mortgage)?

Thank you in advance for any answer.

Cheers!

 

[uerceg]

1. There is no tax when you bring in money or other valuables into canada. After you arrive here you will be taxed on your income in Canada. After you get PR you will be taxed on global income.

Hi @caninfoseeker,

Thank you for your comments. I am curious about this part. Let's say that I am not a PR and I have a rental income from outside of Canada. I would definitely imagine that CRA would want to know about this regardless of my visa status as long as I reside in Canada. Is that true assumption? Or is foreign rental income considered to be "global" in which case you see why am I confused because (if it would be global income) I would read your sentence as "as long as you are on temporary visa, you don't need to pay taxes on your outside-of-Canada income, but once you become PR, you need to start to pay taxes on that income".

Many thanks in advance for your response and no worries, I am absolutely not taking this as a tax advice or fact, but as you said - just a knowledge gathering discussion.

Cheers!

 

[moscatojuices]

Hi @moscatojuices,

This part caught my attention, thank you for sharing the experience with us. I have a few follow up questions:

1. Did you make this transfer once you moved to Canada and opened Canadian bank account? If at some later point, when exactly?
2. Did you need to announce this transfer to your bank or did you need to do any paperwork for this having in mind that it's more than 10K? I do read online that usually banks handle this under the hood (informing FINTRAC), but just curious was that true in your case.
3. Did you do the tax declaration for the year in which you made this transfer to your Canadian bank account? In case you did, did you need to state this transfer in any way as part of your tax declaration or did CRA ever asked you anything about it?
4. Interest of banks (and maybe CRA?) for history of funds on your account which are there for less than 90 days that you mention - is this something which you know out of your own experience (when you might have been chasing the mortgage)?

Thank you in advance for any answer.

Cheers!

1. Did you make this transfer once you moved to Canada and opened Canadian bank account? If at some later point, when exactly? I transferred it immediately after opening my TD bank account, I transferred about $20k to buy a car.
2. Did you need to announce this transfer to your bank or did you need to do any paperwork for this having in mind that it's more than 10K? I do read online that usually banks handle this under the hood (informing FINTRAC), but just curious was that true in your case. Yes banks do have to inform, but it doesn't matter - if every transaction was being questioned the global economy would collapse. Usually what they're looking for is your description of transfer - if you're putting house deposit, savings, car purchase or general remittance nobody is going to ask anything. If you were to put "cocaine purchase" RCMP will likely break down your door
3. Did you do the tax declaration for the year in which you made this transfer to your Canadian bank account? In case you did, did you need to state this transfer in any way as part of your tax declaration or did CRA ever asked you anything about it? No
4. Interest of banks (and maybe CRA?) for history of funds on your account which are there for less than 90 days that you mention - is this something which you know out of your own experience (when you might have been chasing the mortgage)? Yes the specific time this matters is when you apply for a loan and banks have to see your funds over a 90 day period to verify the sources of your down payment.

 

[zuroin]

In the first place how would you transfer money into your binance account?

What about exchanging cash using a cryptocurrency exchange?

 

[caninfoseeker]

What about exchanging cash using a cryptocurrency exchange?

My understanding is you transfer money from your local bank account to binance, hence documentation is present. Binance is not hidden thing, every big trancation may be questionable, hence proof of source of fund must be handy. It appears binance is not legal in Ontario (read some where, please Google recheck)

 

[caninfoseeker]

Hi @caninfoseeker,

Thank you for your comments. I am curious about this part. Let's say that I am not a PR and I have a rental income from outside of Canada. I would definitely imagine that CRA would want to know about this regardless of my visa status as long as I reside in Canada. Is that true assumption? Or is foreign rental income considered to be "global" in which case you see why am I confused because (if it would be global income) I would read your sentence as "as long as you are on temporary visa, you don't need to pay taxes on your outside-of-Canada income, but once you become PR, you need to start to pay taxes on that income".

Many thanks in advance for your response and no worries, I am absolutely not taking this as a tax advice or fact, but as you said - just a knowledge gathering discussion.

Cheers!

Like students temporary workers and visitors are not issued sin, they are issued other tax id so that they may pay tax on earnings done in Canada, they are not required to pay tax on global income, nor they are eligible for free health care and other benefits of Canada, but once they get PR they get free medical and unemployment benefits etc, side by side they are responsible to pay tax on global income.
Giving you some hint for which i am also knowledge seeker
Terms 'residents of canada'
'tax residents of canada'
Tax residents are those who are not residents but living in canada like residents, then there is term 'deemed residents of Canada' they are treated like residents, then taxation treaties to avoid double taxation for dual national,
Now your turn to share so we sail in ocean of tax laws.

 

[alishakihn]

Hi there,

I'll be in Canada in 1 month or so and plan to work by work permit and one day I will submit for PR.

I have some savings in cash (US$50k) and in my local bank account (US$15k) and I would like to put them into a Canadian bank account, so I can pay for rent and accumulate for a mortgage, etc.

So, my questions are:
- What is the procedure for putting my savings into a Canadian bank? (e.g do I need to convert to CAD)
- Should I pay any taxes for that? Or how to report it correctly?
- Should I confirm this money somehow? (e.g. should "statement turnover on the accounts" from local bank work)

Thank you Run 3 !

To open a bank account in Canada, you will typically need to visit a local branch of the bank you choose and provide identification documents, such as your passport, work permit, or other acceptable forms of identification. The bank will guide you through the account opening process, which may include filling out forms and providing additional information.