Forgetting closing home country bank accounts

[glade5]

I forgot to close all my bank accounts in home country before landing in Canada. Some are unused for many years and I think they mostly became dormant or even already closed by the banks. I didn't put a lot of money in these bank accounts, just tens of dollars so I don't think they generate much interest to report.

Now thinking back, I'm not sure whether there would be any issues about taxes. Should I just keep them this way until they are automatically closed by the banks or do I have to close them myself?

 

[Leon]

I forgot to close all my bank accounts in home country before landing in Canada. Some are unused for many years and I think they mostly became dormant or even already closed by the banks. I didn't put a lot of money in these bank accounts, just tens of dollars so I don't think they generate much interest to report.

Now thinking back, I'm not sure whether there would be any issues about taxes. Should I just keep them this way until they are automatically closed by the banks or do I have to close them myself?

It doesn't matter. Nobody is going to come after you because you have a few $ in some old bank account in your home country.

 

[jc94]

You are meant to declare foreign interest on your tax form every year (and get penalized for it).

If it's very low they may not care, for example you only get a T5 if you earn over $50.

But I'd close them personally. I declared about 20p on one account last year.
Banks do not, generally speaking, close accounts automatically. I've never had an account closed - I've had them fail to send me new cards after the old ones expired ... but closed? No, especially if there is any money in there they have a legal right to keep it open (country dependent one assumes).

Here's one thought, I have a almost dead account I have because it allows me to move money around but there is zero in there. Until some scammer decided to take a $40 direct debit out.
Due to the lack of money it bounced and I got hit with a ($50?) fine. I got it back with a phone call... but it's still a risk. The first I knew about it was the letter saying "We are fining you".

 

[glade5]

You are meant to declare foreign interest on your tax form every year (and get penalized for it).

If it's very low they may not care, for example you only get a T5 if you earn over $50.

But I'd close them personally. I declared about 20p on one account last year.
Banks do not, generally speaking, close accounts automatically. I've never had an account closed - I've had them fail to send me new cards after the old ones expired ... but closed? No, especially if there is any money in there they have a legal right to keep it open (country dependent one assumes).

Here's one thought, I have a almost dead account I have because it allows me to move money around but there is zero in there. Until some scammer decided to take a $40 direct debit out.
Due to the lack of money it bounced and I got hit with a ($50?) fine. I got it back with a phone call... but it's still a risk. The first I knew about it was the letter saying "We are fining you".

I'm very new to taxation. As you said you had declared 'about 20p on one account'. May I know how you do it on the tax form? Do you have to specify exact bank name and account number? Or just simply '20p from foreign bank account'?

 

[jc94]

I used TurboTax last year I think, there are tons of them, everyone I asked gave me a different one to try.

Most people use some sort of online system, you can file by paper, but that's a pain. I do it online and it puts everything in the right place then you print and post it in. Or file electronically but there are some restrictions on who can do that (I couldn't last year for example due to having a temporary SIN at the time).

So for me, on the foreign income area as the tool takes you through all the options I just listed each account with gross interest and tax paid. There's an area that shows my expected refund and that went down as I added more interest from other accounts. I just listed the bank name as a reference, account number was not required.

Hope this helps. Filing taxes is a pain if you've never done it before like me... But you normally get money back, so that's a bonus!