Sending money to Canada - taxed on exchange rate?

[Cdngirl]

I am planning my return to Canada next April, and since the exchange rate for US to Cdn is so high, I was thinking of selling my investment portfolio (which has a loss (duh) right now), and send the money to Canada (about $50K USD), which I'll eventually invest in Canada once I'm a resident again.

My question is whether I will be taxed on the amount I will gain from the exchange rate. I am a deemed resident of Canada (i.e. I pay my taxes to Canada, but file in the US for gains which I won't have).

Any drawback on doing this? Should I wait until my mutual funds go up again? I don't want to keep them here after I move away, since there's no tax advantage to having US investments (I've been told).

[Cdngirl]

I should add that I'm not sure if there's any difference in selling it now (as a deemed resident) or wait til next year (when I'll be a factual resident).

I don't know if anyone has info on US-Canada taxation, just thought I'd check!

[pilog]

Im not sure about the tax implications, but one thing you should look into is using a currency broker to do this.
I live in the uk but have a few contacts that work in foreign exchange as i am constantly sending money home and to family in the uk. with the funds i send back home i dont get taxed on, i literally send the funds(sterling) to the currency brokers account and then they in turn send it to my canadian account. i have never been taxed on this and i can only assume that its because its a payment from a third party.
if you want my contacts details pm me, I'm sure he will be able to help you take advantage of the good rates at the moment.
best of luck,
will

[flames9]

I have been using Customhouse.com for over 3 years now, and they are great!

[Steven]

You should never use a bank to do the transfers on large amounts of money, they use currency brokers so you may as well cut out the middleman and use one yourself.

If you've suffered a capital loss then obviously there is no capital gains tax, but if the money is in a tax shelter like an IRA or a 401(k) you will pay a lot of income tax if you take it out. Under the 2008 tax treaty there is no tax anymore on distributions inside them, so if you move back to Canada the usual advice now is to just leave them.

You aren't subject to tax on capital transfers unless there is a capital gain, for example if you convert the money from USD into CAD, the CAD goes up in value and then you convert the money back into USD and then you make a gain.