Transferring personal money between countries

[tinycottage]

I'm currently a Permanent Resident of Canada and a Citizen of the US, residing in Canada. I have bank accounts in both countries that belong to me. I'm trying to figure out what responsibilities I have in terms of reporting larger wire transfers (over 10k but under 50k) from my US account to my Canadian account. All I can find is information about if wired money is a gift or from the sale of an asset. In this case, the money doesn't really fall under either category. It's just my own money saved up from jobs I had in the US several years ago.

I assume my Canadian bank would report the transfer through FINTRAC, but would I also need to report the money to the CRA as "income"? Is there anything else I should know before proceeding? Thanks!

 

[gerry09]

I'm currently a Permanent Resident of Canada and a Citizen of the US, residing in Canada. I have bank accounts in both countries that belong to me. I'm trying to figure out what responsibilities I have in terms of reporting larger wire transfers (over 10k but under 50k) from my US account to my Canadian account. All I can find is information about if wired money is a gift or from the sale of an asset. In this case, the money doesn't really fall under either category. It's just my own money saved up from jobs I had in the US several years ago.

I assume my Canadian bank would report the transfer through FINTRAC, but would I also need to report the money to the CRA as "income"? Is there anything else I should know before proceeding? Thanks!

You don't need to report the transfer as "income" to the CRA if it's your own savings being moved. But still need to make sure that your Canadian bank handles FINTRAC reporting for large transactions, and keep documentation proving the source of funds.

 

[Sonikell]

Perhaps keep the transfers under 10k so you don’t have to report them.

would mean an increasing frequency of transfers but would attract less scrutiny.