Bringing your money to the US

[CDAgirlMI 51]

HI

I know there was a topic like this started, but I had a few more Q's to ask & hopefully more people who have done this, can write their experiences.

I want to bring over as much money as I can(Matt & I are looking into buying a house next year). I want to bring over $10,000, but under $100,000.

I'm bringing any money over with me in a Draft.

Questions are:

1. I understand you must declare if you have over 10,000 at the border. What will they do if I have over that much?

2. What will the banks say/do if I had that much money deposited into an account?

3. Would it be better/worse if I brought under 10,000 when I move, then get my parents to send me drafts of 2,000-5,000 increments?

Any help/opinions are appreciated!!

[Carlawarla 1]

HI

I know there was a topic like this started, but I had a few more Q's to ask & hopefully more people who have done this, can write their experiences.

I want to bring over as much money as I can(Matt & I are looking into buying a house next year). I want to bring over $10,000, but under $100,000.

I'm bringing any money over with me in a Draft.

Questions are:

1. I understand you must declare if you have over 10,000 at the border. What will they do if I have over that much?

2. What will the banks say/do if I had that much money deposited into an account?

3. Would it be better/worse if I brought under 10,000 when I move, then get my parents to send me drafts of 2,000-5,000 increments?

Any help/opinions are appreciated!!

First thing I would do, would be to open a Custom House account. You can then freely move money electronically back and forth from Canada to the U.S., without a fee. It's taken out of your account, and put back in, electronically.

I would suspect that $10,000 would mean you'd have to declare it, and I suspect pay a tax on it? If you're going to bring a draft, I'd make it out to $9999.99.

Good luck in depositing anything in an American account that comes from Canada. Even an International Money Order seems to cause confusion with the banking system here in the U.S.

Here is a link to Custom House. I've been using them for years. Many VJ'ers from Canada use them, with no problem. You can sign up on-line and email them documentation. They will also help you set up an account on the phone if you're having difficulty. It's the only way to go in my opinion.

http://www.customhouse.com/ again, if you're transferring electronically, it's a free service.

[Flames9_RN 358]

2nd the CH!!! I have had great customer service. If ur transferring larger amounts of $$$, I belive they can even give u a better rate! See what ur bank is going to give u as an exchange rate,then immediately call CH and see what their rate. When transferring large amounts of $$, a small diff in exchange amount, can still mean a big difference!! I have kept a Cdn bank acct open since I left in 2004, I keep an almost zero balance, and leave a bank card with my folks!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I am pretty sure you don't have to pay tax on money that you transfer over $10,000 but the IRS do want to know about it. If you are transferring the money rather than physically bringing it, I don't believe there is any form you need to use - the Bank takes care of that and reports the transfer and total amounts to the IRS. You will be taxed on any interest the money earns, but that is the same as in Canada.

So, you can transfer all of the money at once if that is easiest or do it in stages. Basically, the IRS just wants to know about large sums of money entering the country and that it is for legal purposes and not some sort of money laundering. I couldn't find the exact IRS regulation but that seems to be the concensus from an online search.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Kathryn41

[canadian_wife 1,829]

When I moved, I was able to open up a Scotia Bank American account and transfer my Canadian $$ into my American account at Scotia Bank (with an excellen rate btw). Then when I opened up an American account here in GA I was able to easily transfer my Scotiabank American money into my American account and vice versa when I travel to Canada.

I also know that RBC has many American branches, as does TD so I'm sure those banks will offer similar services.

Good luck.

[trailmix 77]

With customhouse (and maybe other people have had different experiences) when you open the account you are set a limit of the amount you can transfer. In our case that was 10 thousand Canadian.

Now, that's not a huge problem as you can ask them to increase your limit - you just have to hop through some hoops to do it - email them 2 pieces of ID, then talk to one of their representatives (not sure what they ask, I never bothered to do it).

The other thing is, say you spot a great exchange rate and you haven't set that higher limit yet, you can only transfer 10 at a time and have to wait for that to land in your account (around 7 days) before doing another transfer.

Anyway that's probably more information than you wanted - just wanted to point it out in case you decide to go with customhouse, rather than signing up online you might want to call them and ensure you have that higher limit in place to start.

What we did was open an RBC centura account. Money can then be easily transferred to an RBC American account in the U.S. - don't know where you are moving to but there are branches in the East.

[MrsCat 6]

I had a check for over $10,000 when I moved and filled out a form and had it ready when I activated my visa. The officer asked if it was in the form of cash. I said no. He said don't bother than. I don't think he was right though.

[Sam and Ben 2]

I don't know what bank you're with here in Canada, but I'm with TD and I'm sending $10,000+ via wire to my fiance's account in the States. It's thirty dollars with all fees included, and they transfer the funds during the process into US funds.

The little additional cheques I'm bringing with me are in Canadian funds, but happily accepted by his bank in the US, which is Chase. (Which has been confirmed on two different occasions by two different tellers... will be confirmed by deposit in about two weeks.)

So although many people have had problems with the banking systems, not all of them hate us Canadians.

I did sign up with CH a couple of months ago, intended to do all of this through them, but then asked my bank for their process and considering the nominal fee, liked the idea of having proper receipts, etc, and effectively closing out my account at the same time.

[sly_wolf 199]

I am pretty sure you don't have to pay tax on money that you transfer over $10,000 but the IRS do want to know about it. If you are transferring the money rather than physically bringing it, I don't believe there is any form you need to use - the Bank takes care of that and reports the transfer and total amounts to the IRS. You will be taxed on any interest the money earns, but that is the same as in Canada.

So, you can transfer all of the money at once if that is easiest or do it in stages. Basically, the IRS just wants to know about large sums of money entering the country and that it is for legal purposes and not some sort of money laundering. I couldn't find the exact IRS regulation but that seems to be the concensus from an online search.

There is also a fairly new regulation which requires all legal residents to report any foreign accounts in excess of $10,000. The money does not have to be physically in the US.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Banks will take cdn cheques. And each bank differs, AND it can differ from Branch to branch! I went thru soo many hassles with Wachovia. Soem times it went ok, other times they would try and charge me a fee, 1 time they sent me back the cheque stating they dont take any international cheque for less that $200. Was always a pain in the butt!

If ur transferring large amounts of $$ its best to phone around and see what each bank is going to give you for an exchange rate and what fees. yes some banks won't charge you any fees, sounds like a great deal, BUT, they give you less of an exchange rate. If ur transferring only a small amount of $$, not a big deal! Exchanging a large amount of $$, it does make sense to do ur homework and get a better exchange rate. Spend 10 minutes, call ur bank, and see what rate they can give you, then call Customhouse and see what thier rate is! They charge NO fees at all. But thats just me,lol Thats what i did when I brought over my RRSP $$ with CH. Best of luck

[Kathryn41 3,205]

There is also a fairly new regulation which requires all legal residents to report any foreign accounts in excess of $10,000. The money does not have to be physically in the US.

Yes, this is accurate as well - the effective date was June, 2009 and I believe there was an extension to September, 2009. The money needs to be declared to the IRS even if the amount in the foreign accounts is $10,000 aggregate for as little a time as one day. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=....html?portlet=6

Edited December 21, 2009 by Kathryn41

[CDAgirlMI 51]

Thanks for the responses....this is so late of me to be worrying about this.

I'll be busy doing research!!

I don't know if I have enough time to do the CH route. Plus, a lot of my money is already in US funds(as I was anticipating a move to the US for a while now). It's just getting my money there, haha.

[Flames9_RN 358]

CH is a fairly easy and fast set up, more so if you have access to a scanner or fax machine! One has to do the application online and then one has to send them (via fax, secure email or snail mail) a few pieces of ID, and bank information. As well they do a very quick phone interview, to ensure it is you setting up the account. Very easy and completed from the convenience of ur home!! I have found on average the transaction of $$$ takes 4-5 business days, all depends on ur bank. First transaction can take a bit longer. I have used it a lot since 2005 and never had a problem. Ran by their head office in Victoria many times!! Just recently they have been sold to Western Union, hopefully that doesnt decrease the service

[CDAgirlMI 51]

Well, I'm moving over in less than a week(omg) & don't have access to a fax/scanner, haha.

I should've gotten an account with CH earlier & now I'm forced to do it another way.

[SapphireDreams 71]

CH is a fairly easy and fast set up, more so if you have access to a scanner or fax machine! One has to do the application online and then one has to send them (via fax, secure email or snail mail) a few pieces of ID, and bank information. As well they do a very quick phone interview, to ensure it is you setting up the account. Very easy and completed from the convenience of ur home!! I have found on average the transaction of $$$ takes 4-5 business days, all depends on ur bank. First transaction can take a bit longer. I have used it a lot since 2005 and never had a problem. Ran by their head office in Victoria many times!! Just recently they have been sold to Western Union, hopefully that doesnt decrease the service

Plus if you need the money quicker, you can just pay to have it wired, I think it's around $25.

I've just been using customhouse and transferring money slowly over. I haven't had to pay any fees and I receive the money within 4-5 business days. I think it's am awesome service.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably find a way to just transfer it all at once somewhere, either through customhouse or through a bank wire transfer. I wouldn't want to carry anything that large physcially, even in cheque or note form... too risky!