Moving money out of the US into Canada

I would strongly suggest you get in touch with a tax accountant that can be responsible for what he tells you . Also, you can contact the Canadian tax department for added information.

I am American and periodically move money back to the U.S. from New Zealand via wire transfer. The funds initially originated in the U.S. I recently had to pay a U.S. Capital Gains Tax due primarily to the difference in the exchange rate. I can't speak for Canada

I have moved money from Canada to the US and vice versa for the last 30 years or so. You can save quite a bit if you do it through currency exchanges instead of banks. The savings are roughly one-half of one percent of the total amount of money exchanged. If you are sending a check for $100, you would save about 50 cents, which might not be worth the drive to the currency exchange if you live near a bank. But if you are sending a check for $200,000, say, to buy a condo in Florida, or making a similar transfer in the other direction, you could save about $1000 by doing it through a currency exchange instead of a bank.

Capital gains taxes get complicated, because the US taxes its citizens no matter where they live, while Canada taxes its residents no matter what their citizenship. But the two countries have a tax treaty to prevent double taxation -- taxes paid in one country get a tax credit in the other. I file tax returns and pay taxes in both countries, and it has been my experience that the total amount paid is not all that different from what it would be if all my business were in one country or the other instead of both.

Don wrote on [Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:11:20 -0500]:

I have found xe.com does well, as long as you have the time and patience to setup the account info with them

Thanks, that site looks good to me. Long ago I found a local company that consistently gave me better rates than I could find elsewhere and have kept going back there without making recent comparisons. I probably could have done still better with more time and patience.

Thanks for your comments, but what I'd like to know is whether or not I would get taxed, say 20% by the IRS(after I've liquidated my stocks) when I transfer the money back to Canada. Does it depend on the amount getting transferred? Is there a limit? I'd appreciate it if you can give me this information from a written source or reference like irs.gov or something...

thanks