I am a PR, and now live in Canada. I moved from US this year, and have some money parked in Savings accounts there. I was in US on H1-B visa, and thus don’t have any association otherwise with that country.
Do I necessarily need to move that money out of US? If I no longer reside there, would filing tax in subsequent years (off the interest that I garner) present any issue (legal or future immigration or getting visa etc)?
I don’t want to move money right now, given the low exchange rates currently, but leaving them in US January onwards would mean that I will be on the hook for tax returns for next year on the interest that I earn.
Can anyone suggest a good savings account in Canada. I have a regular chequing/savings with RBC.
If you have no ties to the US and do not plan to immigrate there, my advice is that you move your money to Canada. Don’t let the exchange rate stop you, you can open a USD account with a bank here in Canada and deposit your money into it.
From a tax perspective, it would be a waste of time/effort/money to file US taxes when it can be avoided and also note that you will have to report your US savings and interest gain when filing Canadian taxes which would make your tax filing complicated and more expensive.
Thanks @am1, in case I leave it in US (on account of a possible move-back in future), do you anticipate any issue regarding maintaining savings account while not being a resident. Not sure if that is legal.
PS: I know you can’t give a legal advise. Just asking for your opinion or knowledge, in case you happen to know.
There’s nothing illegal about having a savings account in the US or a checking account as a non resident.
The only thing for you to do is to tell your bank that you are a non resident alien now and they will ask you to fill in a W8-BEN instead of the W9 that they have on file currently.
Do US dollar accounts in canada give us a Routing and Account number to be able to make regular bill pay and deposit transactions with credit cards etc?
Its legal, you shouldn’t have any issues as long as you file appropriate taxes in both countries. But nothing is set in stone, rules and regulations could change in either country that could make it difficult for you to access your funds in a foreign country.
No, this you can’t do with Canada based USD accounts (either checking or savings).
Some Canadian banks offer USD credit cards, you could either get those or try your luck with check payments (do read the terms).
If you do plan on using US credit cards, then it’s better to keep a US based account open. It really isn’t a hassle at all, it’s just that some banks are fussy and won’t want to entertain you but the big Banks like Bank Of America or Chase should have no problems with this.