Bank accounts in Canada

[Soulmates513 3]

Hi All,

Do you have to exchange your Canadian money to US "before" leaving (POE)to avoid any taxes or penalties on the monies? I was going to see if the exchange rate might creep up a bit more where it was a while ago before changing to US. I am planning on leaving here mid December but thought I'd wait until the New Year to exchange the money. Any information is appreciated. Thanks

[at long last 58]

Hi All,

Do you have to exchange your Canadian money to US "before" leaving (POE)to avoid any taxes or penalties on the monies? I was going to see if the exchange rate might creep up a bit more where it was a while ago before changing to US. I am planning on leaving here mid December but thought I'd wait until the New Year to exchange the money. Any information is appreciated. Thanks

If you will be closing out your bank account before leaving then do the exchange then. I know when we cross the border and fill out the declaration form it asks about bringing more than 10 K into the country. Not sure if that is relevant to you or not. Secondly remember that the next phase in the process has time sensitive forms to fill out. My friend just went through the process last year and her K1 visa expired before the papers were filed. And still hasn't received her green card. So just keep that in mind also.

Terri

[Ning 619]

If you will be closing out your bank account before leaving then do the exchange then. I know when we cross the border and fill out the declaration form it asks about bringing more than 10 K into the country. Not sure if that is relevant to you or not. Secondly remember that the next phase in the process has time sensitive forms to fill out. My friend just went through the process last year and her K1 visa expired before the papers were filed. And still hasn't received her green card. So just keep that in mind also.

Terri

The 10K number is used to control money laundering & drug moneies for example. People can bring as much cash as they want but may be asked about where they got it.

My husband carried 55 K into the USA. He declared it & wasnt asked a single question. He carried a bank reciept just in case they asked.

[Soulmates513 3]

Hi - I apologize if I wasnt more clear in my question. I want to leave the cash in the Canadian bank accounts and then convert it to US money early next year, but this will be after I am in the US (POE). Will I be taxed or penalized by either the CRA (Canada) or the IRS (US).

Thanks very much.

[Flames9_RN 358]

If you do a SEARCH on VJ, play with the words you use, ie Canadian Exchange rates, etc etc, you will find many topics!

-One will usually get a better exchange rate if you exchange it at a Cdn bank

- If its not a lot of $$$$, some just continue to use their Cdn debit card in the USA! Keep in mind, some will charge you a fee AND the exchange rate may be subpar!! Small sums of $$, maybe not a big deal to you.

- Some of us have kept open a Cdn bank account and keep very little in it and then use a Service from Customhouse.com to transfer $$$ from a CDn bank acct to a USA bank account. if you do it Electronically (EFT) its free!! And they tend to give a better exchange rate than the bank! They make their money of the exchange rate! Takes a bit to set up (not that hard) but once you do, ur set!! Very handy if ur transferring over large amounts of $$$. I have it set up to, that I can send $$$ to my Cdn bank acct.

-You will find too that many USA banks HATE Cdn cheques!! Some have no clue what to do with them, some charge hefty fees, some put a hold of 10 days on them, etc etc!! I found it to be a huge pain in the Butt!! Thus thats 1 reason why I started to use Customhouse! Much simpler to mail the cheques back to my folks, whom I left my Cdn bank debit card with.

-Some have had success with Royal And TDbank now having branches in the USA!! They have an acct where I guess it is easy to tranfer $$$. I have no clue, never used them!

-Bringing over $10,000 is no big deal!! Ur just notifying authorities. They are on the lookout for money laundering!! Personally I find it much safer just using Customhouse!! I closed out 1 RRSP acct worth a fair bit and used CH confidently!

Like I said if you do a search, you will find a lot of responses, as this question is brought up a lot. Best of luck

[Flames9_RN 358]

Hi - I apologize if I wasnt more clear in my question. I want to leave the cash in the Canadian bank accounts and then convert it to US money early next year, but this will be after I am in the US (POE). Will I be taxed or penalized by either the CRA (Canada) or the IRS (US).

Thanks very much.

No! As in my other post, recommend Customhouse!! Once u have ur acct set up, ur good to go! U can check on the rate they are going to give! Its almost like a game,lol As they quote u a rate, its good for 60 seconds! Or simply hit refresh. it could be better or worse! On small amounts, its not a huge difference, but if ur talking many $1000's of dollars, the rate change can make a difference! And of course you can just not accept the trade and try again later on. I recommend people set up an account as it is free to do so! And you can chech the CH rate and ur banks rate and see which 1 is better. A few yrs back when I checked with CH and Bank of Montreal, CH was far better, but that was then!! Cheers

[Piefre 15]

What if I want to keep a large amount of money in my Canadian bank account and not close it even after POE? Let's say I want to leave 10k in the account and not use it for many years? Are there any consequences to that? Such as having to pay taxes on that sum?

[CanuckGurl 3]

I don't see there being any problem to leaving your money in your Canadian bank acct after doing your POE. I've left my Cdn bank accts open and am still using them for all my daily activities down here in the US.

If it earns any interest though you will need to report that to the IRS on your tax return.

Also, you might need to file a TDF 90-22.1 form to report the foreign account to the US Treasury Dept. This is just a notification to the US gov't that you have this account and how much is in it (not a difficult form to fill out, but a necessary one as the penalties for NOT filing it are extremely harsh and stiff) and won't trigger any taxes.

Best of luck.

[dukeandduchess 141]

I don't know if this helps at all but I chose to make my Mom power of attorney for my bank account so I can figure out what I want to do with my money/bank account once I've moved to the US.

All of my tax refunds/HST credit/Visa money back go into my account so it'd be a pain in the butt to close it.

If you have someone you trust with your money it might make sense to do the same so you can decide later.

[cananner 2]

I don't know if this helps at all but I chose to make my Mom power of attorney for my bank account so I can figure out what I want to do with my money/bank account once I've moved to the US.

All of my tax refunds/HST credit/Visa money back go into my account so it'd be a pain in the butt to close it.

If you have someone you trust with your money it might make sense to do the same so you can decide later.

This sounds like a good idea. I've also been trying to figure out how to handle my account, and this seems like a viable option.

[Flames9_RN 358]

I just keep a min amount in my Cdn account--less than a $1. And give my parents a 2nd debit card. Once you move to the USA--ur no longer able to get those GST rebate cheques. If you do a search, you will find info on that. No real reason to leave a lo tof $$ in a normal chequing/savings account as 1 is really making no interest off it.

1 thing One should do is make sure ur credit card does not charge you any international service fees!! I know my Capital 1 CC does not, but my plain jane Citi bank one does! And the Capital 1 CC gives a decent exchange rate, so I use it a lot back in Canada and where ever we travel.

[Kimbear 53]

I don't know if this helps at all but I chose to make my Mom power of attorney for my bank account so I can figure out what I want to do with my money/bank account once I've moved to the US.

All of my tax refunds/HST credit/Visa money back go into my account so it'd be a pain in the butt to close it.

If you have someone you trust with your money it might make sense to do the same so you can decide later.

Once you leave Canada that is a moot point since yoru no longer entitled to those deposits for GST. And chances are you wont be doing anymore Canada tax returns.

However whati can say from personal experince, if you can deal with the monthly charges for keeping an account open keep it open. Makes it easier to pay off your Canadian Credit cards loans etc. I closed all my accounts and now have to mail a lousy cheque every month and it literally takes a month for it to get to toronto just from Chicago.

And as Flames said, Custom house is wonders for transfering money from your Canadian Account to your American one, with little to no fees depending on which way you transfer it.

The only way youd have to declare your canadian bank account on a canadian tax return is if you earned significant interest on it. Otherwise they dont care.

[Kimbear 53]

Something i just thought of, some banks alllow you access to your canadian account from the us one so you can see bank balances etc. I was able to do this with my Bank of america account online, granted it waslimited what your able to do, but i was able to see the balance of my accounts, credit cards etc with TD through my online BoA account.

[Marilyn. 340]

to avoid the monthly charges on my Canadian account I shut the checking part down but left the savings open.. now I only get charged a fee when I take money out of it... I also added my mom to my account

[Flames9_RN 358]

If you have a Presidents Choice Account--if u tell them ur moving to the USA, they will want you to close the acct!! I just changed the addy to my parents!!

I think most banks have online access!! So checking the acct is no big deal!

If you make so much interest, it has to be reported. Of course banks give such low interest on ur normal chequing acct, its prob not going to happen,lol I think 1 has to make like $10. You would be better off taking it to the USA and putting it into an acct like ING, but their interest rate is like 1.3% (Just a few yrs back it was over 4%)

When ir comes to USA banks--like car insurance, health insurance, etc etc etc, you really have to shop around to get the best deal that suits you. I think bank of america just announced as of Jan 2012, they are going to charge ya $5 a month to use their debit card! No clue if u keep a min amt in ur acct it gets waived! We love USAA!! cheers