Customs Declaration at the time of First Landing!

[mce.sahil]

Hello everybody!

I am planning to visit Canada for my first landing sometime in December this year. I will be staying there for a couple of weeks and coming back to India where I have to take care of my business assets and properties. I haven't yet decided what to do with either of those as yet. There are also other assets that I may or may not en-cash right away. Now, the question is how do I properly declare all these, so that, if I ever decide to sell them and bring over the proceeds to Canada at a later time, the process can be as smooth as possible. Also, do I need to get a proper evaluation of all these things along with translations wherever necessary? Or, can I merely state that I have such and such belongings right now without any evaluation? Some of the things that I have in mind are, Properties, Jewellery (some new, some inherited) and some tangible business assets. If anybody has ever had an evaluation done for the same, can you please guide me as to who is the right person/authority for that here in India.

Also, is there any stipulated time duration wherein I have to bring these proceeds to Canada after which I will be taxed for the same? I am sure that there must be many who have been in the same spot as myself, so , I am really hoping that maybe someone can shed some light on it.

Many Thanks
Sahil

 

[spyfy]

Hello everybody!

I am planning to visit Canada for my first landing sometime in December this year. I will be staying there for a couple of weeks and coming back to India where I have to take care of my business assets and properties. I haven't yet decided what to do with either of those as yet. There are also other assets that I may or may not en-cash right away. Now, the question is how do I properly declare all these, so that, if I ever decide to sell them and bring over the proceeds to Canada at a later time, the process can be as smooth as possible. Also, do I need to get a proper evaluation of all these things along with translations wherever necessary? Or, can I merely state that I have such and such belongings right now without any evaluation? Some of the things that I have in mind are, Properties, Jewellery (some new, some inherited) and some tangible business assets. If anybody has ever had an evaluation done for the same, can you please guide me as to who is the right person/authority for that here in India.

Also, is there any stipulated time duration wherein I have to bring these proceeds to Canada after which I will be taxed for the same? I am sure that there must be many who have been in the same spot as myself, so , I am really hoping that maybe someone can shed some light on it.

Many Thanks
Sahil

When you are doing the soft landing you only need to report items that:

• you are bringing with you the day you arrive.
• are "following you", that means are sent via postal service or courier to you in Canada.

You do NEVER have to declare ALL your belongings anywhere on earth to customs. Customs is only about stuff you bring into Canada.

If you have a house in your country of origin, it should never show up on any customs form ever unless you managed to put your house in a box and ship it to Canada

You also don't need to declare cash or pay customs on it. You only need to inform the customs officer if you bring more than 10,000 dollars with you in Cash (no one cares whats on your bank account). That is just to avoid money laundering.

You can bring five thousand trillion dollars in cash to Canada and will neither have to pay customs nor tax on that. It's just cash. Instead, you have to pay tax on it if you live in Canada the moment you EARNED that money.

Also, tax and customs are two completely different things and have nothing to do with each other.

 

[mce.sahil]

When you are doing the soft landing you only need to report items that:

• you are bringing with you the day you arrive.
• are "following you", that means are sent via postal service or courier to you in Canada.

You do NEVER have to declare ALL your belongings anywhere on earth to customs. Customs is only about stuff you bring into Canada.

If you have a house in your country of origin, it should never show up on any customs form ever unless you managed to put your house in a box and ship it to Canada

You also don't need to declare cash or pay customs on it. You only need to inform the customs officer if you bring more than 10,000 dollars with you in Cash (no one cares whats on your bank account). That is just to avoid money laundering.

You can bring five thousand trillion dollars in cash to Canada and will neither have to pay customs nor tax on that. It's just cash. Instead, you have to pay tax on it if you live in Canada the moment you EARNED that money.

Also, tax and customs are two completely different things and have nothing to do with each other.

Thank you very much for the clarification spyfy.

So, it is clear then that I only need to declare those tangible items that I may or may not bring to Canada in the future. However, can you clarify whether there is any time limit to bring these things to Canada, or as long as I have the receipt for the custom declaration, I can bring these items whenever I decide to.

Secondly, as it is clear from your explanation above, my query is more related to the taxation side of things rather than the customs. So, can you please shed some light on it.

Lets say, if I come now for a month, land in December 2017 and leave in January 2018, don't make any sort of earnings and then don't come back again (migrate for good) till early 2019, then what will be my first fiscal year in Canada? I guess what I am trying to ask is, would the revenue system take my date of first entry into Canada into account or the date when I shift here for good? Also, do I need to do any thing from a taxation point of view either before I arrive or after my first entry into Canada?

Sahil

 

[Vagabond86]

Hi Sahil,

I hope by now you completed your landing successfully. Were you able to find answers to your questions?

I'm in a similar situation.

Cheers
V

 

[ravisood458]

i have the same query if anyone can help please. how do we declare the amount that we want to bring in later directly into our accounts, or if any money that my parents want to send to me on any later date to help me financially. will that be taxed? is that to be declared?
URGENT PLEASE

 

[Lucky-2018]

Thank you very much for the clarification spyfy.

So, it is clear then that I only need to declare those tangible items that I may or may not bring to Canada in the future. However, can you clarify whether there is any time limit to bring these things to Canada, or as long as I have the receipt for the custom declaration, I can bring these items whenever I decide to.

Secondly, as it is clear from your explanation above, my query is more related to the taxation side of things rather than the customs. So, can you please shed some light on it.

Lets say, if I come now for a month, land in December 2017 and leave in January 2018, don't make any sort of earnings and then don't come back again (migrate for good) till early 2019, then what will be my first fiscal year in Canada? I guess what I am trying to ask is, would the revenue system take my date of first entry into Canada into account or the date when I shift here for good? Also, do I need to do any thing from a taxation point of view either before I arrive or after my first entry into Canada?

Sahil

Hi Sahil,
We are in the similar situation. Did you find out what would be the way to get this landing done and selling assets later not having to pay double tax later? How did you declare end up when you did your landing?