Is the money I transfer to Canada from abroad taxable?

Question

Hi

My question is this.

Lets say I want to buy a house in Canada but I do not have enough money and asked my relatives to transfer/send me $55,000 through the bank from Asia or Europe.

Do I have to declare that as an income in my tax return? Is that something taxable?

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

To my knowledge there should be no tax as this is simply cash being transferred it's not income and Canada has no gift tax. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

If it were cash from a pension or foreign investment that was sending you money than tax would be withheld but if you just wire money from a bank no tax will be withheld.

You will likely get asked some questions at the bank as to where the money came from as anything over 10,000 has to be reported to FINTRAC.

Answer 2

Wellnes Manager is incorrect.  Money such as this is not income as long as it does not result from your own work or investment activities.  As mentioned elsewhere you may be required to explain the source if it's over $10,000, but that is an explanation, not a taxation issue.

This will have no tax applied, provided you can explain the source (and provided it is clearly NOT income)

Answer 3

Yes you have to claim it as foreign income.  The Canadian government takes about 25%, this is called withholding tax.  However, some countries have provisions which allow you get it at a discounted rate.  Depending on where exactly the money is coming from, you could end up paying upwards of 25% in taxes.