We first moved to Canada in Jun 2014 as PR,We did not fill any form regarding money/jewellery/other things etc which needs to bring to canada at later stage at the time of entry nor they asked us to do so.We went back after a month and than i shifted my spouse and two kids in Jun 2015 to canada for permanent stay.I also shifted now in Jul 17 for permanent stay .We have left all our money in bank in our home country and also there are some properties to be sold and proceeds to b shifted here for settlement.As we have not declared anything on our first visit how can we bring all our money and proceeds of property here in canada now?
Settlement Issues regarding finances
- Thread starter SSDHANI
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You can transfer arbitrary amounts of money internationally without paying any duties or anything. It's just money after all. However, depending on the country you are sending the money FROM you might have to make a declaration. For example, in some European countries, if you transfer more than 10,000 Euros at once, the bank gives you a number you have to call. You call that number and simply inform them whose money it is and that's it.
You might recall the rule that if you bring more than 10,000 Dollars in cash with you to Canada you have to declare it at the border. This rule only applies to cash (and cash-equivalents, like some cheques). It has nothing to do with eletronic transfers.
Plese note that all the above rules are only to avoid money laundering. So as long as the money you are transferring is yours and you have a good explanation on why you have it you can transfer a billion dollars, completely legally (although for a billion dollars, you should have a good explanation
)Regarding property: If I get it right, you plan to sell that property in your country of origin and then simply transfer the money you made from selling it to Canada. Again the above rules apply. You are not actually importing anything.
Note, however, that depending on what kind of property you sell and in case you made a profit of it you might have to declare this in your next tax return. Since you are residing in Canada, you have to pay Canadian taxes on your profits no matter where you make them. I don't have any more details about this, but any decent tax consultant can help you figure that out. In particular, since you moved to Canada this year you might or might not be considered a resident of Canada for 2017 (note that residency for tax purposes has nothing to do with being a PR or not).
If you brought actually valuable items to Canada (jewellery, a car, art, precious metals), then you would declare those items when you enter Canada, e.g. at the airport. The items can be in your carry on or your checked luggage (if possible, I would advise on carry on because otherwise the bag might get lost). They will then assess those items and you have to pay duty on it. How much depends highly on the kinds of goods you are bringing.
If someone is sending those items to you via mail: First of all that might be a bad idea because generally postal services have rather low limits for liability, so if your necklace gets lost, it's lost. Secondly, in that case I think the best is to call the hotline of Canada customs to make sure that you are doing everything the right way.
You can always bring money resulting from selling your possession back home into Canada as stated above. Depending on what you are selling, gains or income earned on them, and taxes already paid e.g. On Investment assets, etc., you may be liable To pay some taxes come next April.
The answer really depends on what you declared in your tax returns. When your family moved in 2015, you effectively became a tax resident of Canada, and were obligated to file returns declaring your global income. Did you do this? If so, did you declare the properties on your tax filing? Alternatively, when you spouse filed his/her tax returns in 2015 and 2016, did he/she declare the foreign assets? If nothing was declared, you can expect scrutiny from the CRA when you try bringing large amounts of money into Canada.