Hey all

I am trying to send over circa £20k from the UK to Canada and have a couple of questions:

1) My brother-in-law works at RBC and can get a good rate on currency exchange, but I am concerned that there may be some issues sending it to him and him transfering it to me - in terms of tax etc - does anyone know if there is anything I could consider?

2) The money has been in an ISA for the past 16 years, so tax free in the UK - will it be taxable on landing in Canada?

*Edit* 3) If sending a Halifax plc cheque to RBC, will RBC do the conversions, or will Halifax sell, and RBC buy? (Or Visa Versa)?

Cheers

1. Should be no issue as long as he is able to show where the money came from if asked by CRA and it is a legitimate 'gift' type payment.

2. If you withdraw the money from an ISA when you are not a tax resident of Canada, not an issue in Canada. If you withdraw it as a tax resident, some or all of the income may be taxable income.

3. If you wire the money from UK to Canada, you are buying CAD with GBP and your originating bank will do the FX as it has to go into the account as CAD. If you deposit a GBP cheque into a RBC account, RBC do the FX and deposit the funds into the account as CAD.

Many thanks for the quick reply.

Regarding answer 2 - As a Permanent Resident, does that make me a Tax Resident?

and... Would it be up to me to declare the money if it was taxable?

Where do you live right now?

Sunny Winnipeg!

Then you're a tax resident of Canada.

And, yes, it's down to you to report the ISA withdrawal.

If you had over $100k it should have been reported on a T1135

Any gain in value since you became a tax resident of Canada would be subject to tax. I believe you should have been reporting this each year on your CAD tax return, it is not tax sheltered income in Canada.

Failure to report when you file your taxes could incur significant penalties. Conversion rates should use the prevailing BOC rates.

Not all Permanent Residents are tax residents. From what I was told by my accountant you become tax resident in canada when you get income in/from canada, not when you get Residency status.

You have a tax obligation when you have income when living in Canada. You could also have tax obligations living outside of Canada if deemed a tax resident. Tax residency status does not require income to exist
Determining your residency status

Well you can be a PR not tax resident if you are married to a Canadian citizen, hold PR, and live outside of Canada. (Every day spent abroad with your Canadian spouse counts as a day in Canada for PR purposes (but not for citizenship) )