shelley748

Hi folks

For those who collect UK State Pension- questions
1. are you having it sent to your Canadian bank account or your UK one?
2. How do you input into CDN tax return as they don't provide tax slips I presume and how do you prove this to CRA when you file?


Thanks

btar

I've stuck with my UK Bank for now. The CRA tax return has a section for foreign pensions (line 11500) so, as I recall, it is simply a case of entering the data. When asked for evidence of UK SP I've used HMRC's Notice of Coding which shows the SP amount. Not challenged so far!

shelley748

Thanks for the reply
Is the notice of coding something that gets sent to you by HMRC?

btar

Yes.

shelley748

Ok thanks!!

greenmount

Wise (formerly Transferwise) works perfectly to receive GBP

Kingsboy48

I have mine deposited into my First Direct a/c in the UK and transfer it to Royal Bank using Wise.
For tax return I add the amounts together, convert to CAD$ using the 'annual' average exchange rate from Bank of Canada and enter the amount on line 1150 on the tax return (for which I recommend Studio Tax if you're looking for a good, cheap program!).

Kingsboy48

If anyone is interested the official Bank of Canada annual exchange rates to use for 2022 are 1.6076 for GBP and 1.3013 for US$.

shelley748

Why not just have it deposited into your CDN account? Is there something I should be aware of? Thanks for the reply

Twitcher1958

I do exactly the same for my (non state) pension, then transfer to Canada as needed. I didn’t recall the line number but presume that’s correct - I’ve been doing that all along and never challenged.

Kingsboy48

Another brit friend of mine has it deposited directly into Canada but gets a worse exchange rate than I do. We also go to the UK every couple of years (normally!) so we keep some funds there and when we go it saves us having to send money back (though we could use a Wise debit card). Any cash left in the UK goes into Premium Bonds and we even win occasionally 😊.
The line number on the Canadian tax return is 11500 not what I said earlier.

BristolUK

Ditto.

Glad you said that. That's long been what I assumed but nobody on BE has ever volunteered anything to enable a direct comparison.

Before Transferwise emerged I did some account to account transfers and other times I withdrew $$ from bank machines using my UK bank card. After adjusting for the various fees involved the actual exchange rate I got was always worse than that quoted on xe.com and (Transfer)wise rates are virtually identical to xe.com.

eg, right now xe says 1.6353738 while Wise says 1.63507
By comparison, Nat West is 1.55447.
8c lost for every £1 transferred. Even on £500 that's $40 lost.

btar

Any "wired" deposit into my Canadian bank account incurs a charge of $17 whereas the method used by Wise does not so having my SP paid into the UK account and moved when exchange rates are favourable suits me.
I like Kingsboy48's idea of keeping some in Premium Bonds though, I wonder if any winnings need to be declared?

shelley748

How does the transfer work? When I used XE to move funds from UK Nat West to my BMO account I had to do a wire transfer from nat West to XE and then to the BMO account- it was a friggin nightmare.. Would appreciate some insight thanks

btar

It seems strange that you had to do the transfer, I would have thought XE would manage that but have no experience of their service. I've used TorFX where I agree (on-line or by phone) the amount to be transferred and the rate, move the money from my bank to TorFx and they send it to my Canadian bank. Job done.