At Singapore bank, you fill in a Telegraphic Transfer application form or Bank Draft application form depending on which form of transfer you want. If Telegraphic Transfer, you provide the Canadian bank account. That`s it. No special form to fill if greater than whatever amount.
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Canadian PR
- Thread starter Hock
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At Singapore bank, you fill in a Telegraphic Transfer application form or Bank Draft application form depending on which form of transfer you want. If Telegraphic Transfer, you provide the Canadian bank account. That`s it. No special form to fill if greater than whatever amount.
"The budget estimated the proposed changes - which range from requiring banks to report international transfers of more than C$10,000 ....."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/22/canada-taxes-flaherty-idUSL1N0CEDEY20130322
http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/cei-20-e.htm
Since you are a landed immigrant, there is no issue transferring money to Canada. Even if CRA knows you transfer $, so what. It only matters to CRA once you become a tax resident. The more likely body to know if you are transferring large amounts is Bank of Canada. As long you can prove you are not laundering, then there is no issue at all. The best way to do this transfer is to come to Canada first, establish a relationship with your branch manager, then inform him/her that you are transferring $x to your Canadian account from your own overseas account. That it......so simple.
Oh yes, I remember this news. I don't know how they will implement this and it is unlikely they have implemented it yet as there was no questions or issues from govt when I made the transfer of C$100,000 in Feb 2013. Jim Flaherty made the announcement on March 22 so I think it would take some time before it gets implemented..
Here is what I think. This change is to address tax evasion and avoidance, I don't think it impact us so long we did not evade taxes. When we sell the HDB, we get a sum of money and having this extra sum of money is not tax evasion. But if we invest this proceeds from the sale of HDB flat and do not report the investment income, then that is tax evasion. A good analogy is if you win the lottery, you keep all the winnings. You don't report to govt that you have 'extra money' from the lottery winnings and the govt don't tax your lottery winnings. You keep 100% of the winnings. You will likely have this lottery winnings parked in a bank account and that would generate interest. That interest is taxable and need to be reported.
I would call the Canadian Bank and say I have just got my citizenship and have sold my house in Singapore. I want to transfer money from Singapore to Canada, this money is from the sale of my house and pension money (CPF). If they need you to fill in a form, then fill the form, if not, no issues. If you need to fill the form, say the money came from sale of house and pension money.
So did you fill 'Yes' or 'No' to "Did you own or hold foreign property at any time with a total cost of more than CAN$100,000?" ? This question is for Foreign Income Verification and does not apply to the HDB flat because that HDB flat is for personal use. If you own a second property in Singapore, then you should answer 'Yes' to the question. Otherwise, if it is just HDB, answer 'No' to the question. Let me get you a screenshot about answering 'No' to the question..
You can download this form and read the part on 'Do you have to file this statement?' (instead of screenshot).
T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1135/t1135-fill-07e.pdf
Note that part that said 'You do not have to report information about property held for personal use.'.
Do you have to file this statement?
Canadian resident individuals, corporations, and trusts, as well as
partnerships, who held certain property outside Canada with a total cost
amount of more than $100,000 at any time in the tax year, have to file Form
T1135, Foreign Income Verification Statement.
Non-resident discretionary trusts, as defined under section 94 of the Act,
may also have to file this statement.
As an individual (other than a trust) you do not have to file this statement
for the year in which you first become a resident of Canada.
You do not have to report information about property held for personal use.
This includes vacation property used by you primarily as a personal
residence, as well as listed personal property such as works of art,
jewellery, rare folios, rare manuscripts, rare books, stamps, and coins. See
the latest version of Interpretation Bulletin IT-332, Personal-Use Property,
for more details about personal property. You also do not have to report
property used or held by you exclusively in an active business.
T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1135/t1135-fill-07e.pdf
Note that part that said 'You do not have to report information about property held for personal use.'.
Do you have to file this statement?
Canadian resident individuals, corporations, and trusts, as well as
partnerships, who held certain property outside Canada with a total cost
amount of more than $100,000 at any time in the tax year, have to file Form
T1135, Foreign Income Verification Statement.
Non-resident discretionary trusts, as defined under section 94 of the Act,
may also have to file this statement.
As an individual (other than a trust) you do not have to file this statement
for the year in which you first become a resident of Canada.
You do not have to report information about property held for personal use.
This includes vacation property used by you primarily as a personal
residence, as well as listed personal property such as works of art,
jewellery, rare folios, rare manuscripts, rare books, stamps, and coins. See
the latest version of Interpretation Bulletin IT-332, Personal-Use Property,
for more details about personal property. You also do not have to report
property used or held by you exclusively in an active business.
When you are transferring money from HSBC Singapore acct to HSBC Canada acct, you are transferring money within your own HSBC accounts. This is not an income to be declared to CRA.
So HSBC don't even need to notify CRA even if your transfer is C$1mlm each and every time.
HSBC will not charge you any fees for your fund transfer as long as you are a Premier Account holder.
One year after you landed, you will have to file your Canada tax. CRA is not interested how much you have in the bank, they are only interested in your income i.e. from job, rentals collected, investments and interest you earn from banks etc from the day you landed as a PR.
As far as CRA is concern,you will not be tax on any existing assets (savings, properties, investments etc) you have with you before you land. For example, the money you are transferring between your bank accounts is already in your possession before you land so it will not attract any taxes.
Just remember if your overseas savings earn interest, you have to report it as income and annual income exceeding C$20k/year (could not remember for sure if its $20k or $25k) will be taxed.
Another example, if you have a property in Singapore worth $500k at the time you land in Canada and you sell the house for $600k later, you will not be tax on the $500k but the gain of $100k ($600k - $500k) will be taxed. However if you sell the house before you land, all the sales proceeds from the house will not be taxed and transfer them between your bank accounts freely. However you will have have to declare any interests earned on these bank accounts.
I hope the above makes sense and is what I come to know after having been in Canada for nearly 3 years now. Time flies .....
So HSBC don't even need to notify CRA even if your transfer is C$1mlm each and every time.
HSBC will not charge you any fees for your fund transfer as long as you are a Premier Account holder.
One year after you landed, you will have to file your Canada tax. CRA is not interested how much you have in the bank, they are only interested in your income i.e. from job, rentals collected, investments and interest you earn from banks etc from the day you landed as a PR.
As far as CRA is concern,you will not be tax on any existing assets (savings, properties, investments etc) you have with you before you land. For example, the money you are transferring between your bank accounts is already in your possession before you land so it will not attract any taxes.
Just remember if your overseas savings earn interest, you have to report it as income and annual income exceeding C$20k/year (could not remember for sure if its $20k or $25k) will be taxed.
Another example, if you have a property in Singapore worth $500k at the time you land in Canada and you sell the house for $600k later, you will not be tax on the $500k but the gain of $100k ($600k - $500k) will be taxed. However if you sell the house before you land, all the sales proceeds from the house will not be taxed and transfer them between your bank accounts freely. However you will have have to declare any interests earned on these bank accounts.
I hope the above makes sense and is what I come to know after having been in Canada for nearly 3 years now. Time flies .....
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First, on the second point, how would CRA know that you made a gain of $100K or even sold a property? Does any Singapore govt agency reports to CRA? Likely not. Even if they do, how would the Singapore govt agency know which property sale transaction needs to be reported and to which country? So CRA may not know what ever property sale transaction that happened outside Canada or if any capital gain is made. CRA will only know if the Canadian bank notify them that this account has an incoming transfer of $600K. Will CRA, based on this information (incoming $600K) from the Canadian bank question the Canadian account holder on the origin of the $600K? Is that $600K going to attract taxes on the day that the money is deposited into the Canadian bank account?
If CRA does not know anything about the property sale transaction or the capital gain of $100K, following your first point on transferring money through HSBC that the transfer of money, $600K in this case, is not an income to be declared to CRA and HSBC don't even need to notify CRA, can we then say that CRA will have no knowledge about the $600K being deposited into the HSBC Canadian account? Which means, Hock can just transfer the money through HSBC (is other Canadian banks ok?) and there will be no issue from CRA?
I am like you; almost 3 years in Canada.
With the new rules coming in, the above info may be out dated..
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When the money lands into your account, CRA will know. You had better have proof of that you got the money legally. And if you had not previously declared your foreign assets, you could face some penalty.
Don't play, play with CRA.
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Duplicated post deleted.
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@Tate,
You may be right, CRA may not know about your funds transfer. However, when you use such large sum of money to buy a house or investment here, such actions may trigger a red flag to CRA to do a tax audit on your source of funds and its up to you to prove that the funds was yours before you landed and any income generated from the funds you had had been reported for tax purposes.
@ Tomoko,
I don't know which new rules you are referring to and until the rule actually changes, the above was my understanding and experience so far.
You may be right, CRA may not know about your funds transfer. However, when you use such large sum of money to buy a house or investment here, such actions may trigger a red flag to CRA to do a tax audit on your source of funds and its up to you to prove that the funds was yours before you landed and any income generated from the funds you had had been reported for tax purposes.
@ Tomoko,
I don't know which new rules you are referring to and until the rule actually changes, the above was my understanding and experience so far.
I'm referring to the proposed budget changes mentioned by Hock where the banks are required to report international transfers of more than C$10,000.. unclear as to what kind of information that needs to be provided to the govt when reporting this international transfer of more than C$10,000..
Whether the money is coming from your own bank account from the same bank or a completely unrelated bank and someone's else account is irrelevant. The fact is that money has come from a foreign source.
Authorities track all incoming and they flow into 2 main categories. The first category is where suspected money laundering, proceeds of crime, funds from sanctions busting etc require reporting by financial institutions and this is pretty much established. This handling entity authorities are law enforcement and nothing to do with tax authorities such as CRA.
The second category are handle by tax authorities like CRA. The request to financial institutions are done on a targeted programme basis. For example, 2013 may focus on the self employed. The next year will be professionals like doctors, lawyers etc.
They will send a series of request to the banks such as listing of all accounts with international incoming above $X for the last 4 years. Another favourite request is list of all visa cards issued overseas used in Canada at least every quarter each year for the last 4 years. As all cards both foreign and domestic must still be processed by by a local bank, the list will be provided.
The first indication that you have been shortlisted is a nice special letter asking you declare any foreign assets and income. If you do nothing, couple of months later you will a revised assessment letter capturing all incoming funds by year and the total. And it may go back a few years. You will probably get a heart attack when you see the assessed tax due.
Not to panic. If these are assets you acquired overseas prior to your move and one year into your move of becoming a tax resident, you are not liable for any tax. It draws tax after this period if you earn interest, take rent.etc. Just make sure you keep documents of property acquisition and sales.
Tax residents using overseas issued cards after one year are treated no different to foreign incoming funds.
People who become tax residents and no longer can bring in foreign funds that are new income typically let it remain and use it when they go over for holidays. They can also move the funds to most countries and invest there as long as they not a tax resident in that country. So ex-Singaporeans park it in Singapore or the US. By the way, if you are no longer a Singaporean or not in SIngapore as a PR, you can park funds in Asian Dollar Currency as it is tax free (also not withholding tax)
Authorities track all incoming and they flow into 2 main categories. The first category is where suspected money laundering, proceeds of crime, funds from sanctions busting etc require reporting by financial institutions and this is pretty much established. This handling entity authorities are law enforcement and nothing to do with tax authorities such as CRA.
The second category are handle by tax authorities like CRA. The request to financial institutions are done on a targeted programme basis. For example, 2013 may focus on the self employed. The next year will be professionals like doctors, lawyers etc.
They will send a series of request to the banks such as listing of all accounts with international incoming above $X for the last 4 years. Another favourite request is list of all visa cards issued overseas used in Canada at least every quarter each year for the last 4 years. As all cards both foreign and domestic must still be processed by by a local bank, the list will be provided.
The first indication that you have been shortlisted is a nice special letter asking you declare any foreign assets and income. If you do nothing, couple of months later you will a revised assessment letter capturing all incoming funds by year and the total. And it may go back a few years. You will probably get a heart attack when you see the assessed tax due.
Not to panic. If these are assets you acquired overseas prior to your move and one year into your move of becoming a tax resident, you are not liable for any tax. It draws tax after this period if you earn interest, take rent.etc. Just make sure you keep documents of property acquisition and sales.
Tax residents using overseas issued cards after one year are treated no different to foreign incoming funds.
People who become tax residents and no longer can bring in foreign funds that are new income typically let it remain and use it when they go over for holidays. They can also move the funds to most countries and invest there as long as they not a tax resident in that country. So ex-Singaporeans park it in Singapore or the US. By the way, if you are no longer a Singaporean or not in SIngapore as a PR, you can park funds in Asian Dollar Currency as it is tax free (also not withholding tax)
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Hi Bro - have u applied for citizenship? Long time never check out this forum.
In a few months can apply oredi..............wait for citizenship test...then take oath......then HUAT arh!!!!
Good for u. All the best!
Canada closing door to immigrants
The government is modifying its immigration policy to make the country less open than it used to be.
Al Jazeera’s Daniel Lak reports from Toronto.
[video=youtube;Sz4Ee1eich4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz4Ee1eich4[/video]
The government is modifying its immigration policy to make the country less open than it used to be.
Al Jazeera’s Daniel Lak reports from Toronto.
[video=youtube;Sz4Ee1eich4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz4Ee1eich4[/video]
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Cancelling the existing backlogs eliminate alot of immigrants from Asia. Now, the focus is on white immigrants from Ireland, UK and Europe. The rules are changed to favour immigrants from Europe.
Whenever a Conservative government takes power, you can expect the door to Asian immigrants to tighten.
Whenever a Conservative government takes power, you can expect the door to Asian immigrants to tighten.
May be good for Canadians and those already residing in Canada.
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