How to transfer money to US after selling home in Canada

Hi, I am a Canadian in US on TN for the last several years. Just recently, I got my GC and am planning to buy my first home in USA. I have a property in Canada (currently rented out) which I am planning to sell and use the funds to buy the house here in the USA. Is there a simple way to bring the money to USA? How would I be able to declare that money without raising any flag?

thanks!

First, where you keep the money has no bearing on taxation. Your sale will be subject to both Cdn and US taxation. be sure to follw the requirements for a Cdn non-resident selling Cdn property before and after the sale.

On the matter of bringing the funds to US, as long as you go thru the banking system, they take care of any reporting with respect to intl movement of funds. In other words, don't bring a suitcase of money across the border.

So, all you really need to be concerned about is what exchange rate and how long your funds will be tied up during the exchange. First rule is to ALWAYS exchange the money into US funds in canada before making your deposit into a US bank. Second is generally a forex company will give you a better rate that any bank (Canada or US). I personally use CustomHouse.com (there are 1 or 2 others) which allows me to tie my existing Cdn and US bank accounts together and give a pretty good and dynamic exchange rate, without needing to open any new bank or brokerage account. Others have happily used their existing brokerage account to make the exchage.

But, above all, do not show up at your US bank with a Cdn$ check. You will get raped on the exchange rate, and your money will be tied up for -- from experiences I've heard -- upto a month!

I noticed you posted on serbinski, I'll answer any follow-ups there

I too use Customhouse, but last yr it was bought by Western Union! Same process, but I swear they don't give as good as an exchange rate as they once did. It takes a bit to set up a CH account, but its easy, much easier if you can scan/email or fax in the required documents!!

Yes USA banks to not like Canadian cheques!! I had huge hassles when I first moved to the States in 2004. I learned to only use this 1 teller, and if she was not there, I would leave!!

I have my CH account set up to TX $$ to and from Canada. I keep a 1 Cdn account open, but with less than a $1 balance!! best of luck

Depends where your moving to in the USA, they have Royal and TD banks! Some on another site say its very easy transferring $$$. But I have no clue on what kind of exchange rate they give in comparison to CH. Its free to set up a CH account, so why not. You can see what they rate they offer and phone the banks and see what they are offering. I was told to that if ur transferring a large sum of $$$, call CH and they may be able to give you a better rate than its showing online. Best of luck

I haven't noticed anything adverse since the Western Union takeover in terms of excahge rate (ie, increased spread or variance from spot rate), except that it looks like it is harder to open an account (ie. they are trying to get you to use other way over-priced Western Union Services).

The other feature I like about CH is that my Cdn bank treats the exchange as a "Bill', amking the funds available for transfer instantly.

For me, on average it take 3 or 4 Business days to complete an EFT transaction! I guess they do have a wire service which is faster, but it costs $$$$, never used it.

Like I said, using the "bill pay" part for the Cdn bank (canada to US), is as fast as wire on the Cdn side and is free.

Never needed the money in a hurry however.

Thanks guys for your response. I will be selling the Canadian house as the primary resident who lived in the house for 2 years or so hence won't be subjected to Canadian capital gain tax as per my understanding. Do I still need to pay taxes in US on that sale?

You are incorrect on how Canada taxes your house. There is no such rule in canada that states tha tyou are not taxable ina home tha tyou lived in for X years.
Once you have been out of the house for one year, you are subject to cap gains in canada. It should only be partly taxable, however. Particularly now that you rented it out. you mentionned you ahve ben in US on TN for several years, so you may have quite abit of tax owing.

For US, you would have been reporting the rent etc, and the depreciation on your 1040, so you would have the depreciation recapture to pay tax on, and the gains on the increase since you entered US, if that was more than 3 years ago.

I'll eleborate at serbinski.