Scribble

I have some money to transfer from UK from a sale of a UK house to use for a deposit in Canada.
As I understand it the transfer limits are $10,000 per 24hrs. Is that correct?
It's my own cash so nothing taxable but I understand that if you transfer more, the revenue services get it reported to them.
So, can I just transfer in batches 48hrs apart?

Atlantic Xpat

There is no limit to how much you can transfer but amounts over $10k need to be reported. If you are seeking to defraud the revenue by transferring many smaller amounts I'd suggest not asking about it on a public forum. :-) if the sale of the house in the U.K. Is your primary residence then you you likely have no tax liability in any event other than any gain in value from the time you landed as a PR to the time you sold it. In that case you should pay tax on the gain. (Not the full amount). I'm sure our resident tax experts JonboyE and Aviator will correct me or add further info as required.

Aviator

FINTRAC is what you may be thinking of, any amounts of $10k or more are reported. This is done by the financial institution, or you if physically bringing in yourself.

As AX stated, if there is nothing fishy about the source of the funds and no dubious intentions, why be concerned about it being reported? Bringing in numerous small amounts will not attract as good a FX rate as a larger aggregated sum.

Scribble

I guess I just figured amounts over 10k attract questions or delays. If they provide a legal way to batch payments less than 10k, which they do, then why not do that and avoid the hassle.

Is there tax on primary residence gains abroad? There's no tax on primary residence gains within Canada afaik.

BristolUK

Well doing it in batches would delay things. and a whole series might well attract more attention than one.

It may depend on the individual agencies but even if a smaller amount is less involved there may come a point where a running total hits a level that does become more involved.

Scribble

It's 5 batches not loads
Fair enough points. Thanks

Aviator

Sending $100k in one transaction and the bank reporting to FINTRAC is no hassle, you won't even know it is done and unlikely to raise any concerns, unless there is something illicit about it. Also, sending in batches under $10k could raise suspicions and it still be reported, attracted more attention.

FINTRAC reporting is separate from a residents obligation to self report on their tax return. Failure to report any gains though currency or gains on the sale of property can lead to severe consequences.

You can only have one primary residence, which is as a rule where you live (even if you rent and own property elsewhere). The first calendar year (or part of), your primary residence from whence you came would likley not attract CGT. However in subsequent years it is no longer your primary residence, therefore any gain from the value when you became a Canadian tax resident (this is a matter of fact, not personal choice), to when you disposed of said property would be subject to CGT, currency rates also have to be accounted for, as all values are in CAD, either the actual rate you received, or the prevailing Bank of Canada rate at the time. If you have held funds in a foreign currency, any change in the FX from when you received the funds to when you convert the funds, is also subject to CGT.

Have you been filing T1135 with your T1 return as well? If so, CRA will already know about the asset anyway, if not, talk to an accountant, penalties for not doing so when one should have, can be severe.

Get professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

Scribble

On a related note, of family members plan to give gifts in future is there any tax on that? Does a letter of proof need to be provided?

Aviator

Monetary gifts are not taxable. If the sums are quite large, good idea to keep some evidence that it was a gift, such as a letter from the giver and copies of all the transaction detail. I would keep it for 7 years.

BristolUK

Okay, but if a transfer takes four days then five would take 20.

Unless you did them daily, but then that would likely stand out.

Unless you used a different service for each one.

That's a big deposit.

I bought a house in Canada transferring money from the UK.

I transferred an amount needed for the deposit. When it came to the balance on completion I made an estimate plus other costs and transferred an amount from my UK bank to the lawyer's bank account in time for completion date.

Then on completion day I had a few hundred for any adjustment.

Snowy560

Did you report the sale to HMRC within 30 days:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/capital-...ntial-property

When we sold in 2015, we asked the lawyer to transfer the proceeds to our Sterling account at HSBC Canada.

We had to pay CGT in Canada but not in the UK. If you sold after Oct 2016 you may have to pay CGT in the UK as the rules changed in April 2015 (can't link easily from phone). We consulted both a UK accountant and a Canadian as, although it was painful, I wanted to get the taxes right in both countries.