Canadians: maximum bankwire to a Canadian bank without issues?

[mathdotcom]

Anyone have experience receiving a large bankwire from a book and running into issues from the bank? I use BMO and am wondering how I should break up a large 5 figure withdrawal, if at all.

Would appreciate any replies.

[vitalyo]

Anything Under 10K is the magic # .

[mathdotcom]

thanks vitalyo

let's smuggle some cash . com

[mrmarket]

It depends if you intend to pay taxes on it or not. If you intend to pay taxes just do a lump sum via a branch manager. If you're worried about transfer risk split the sum but there comes a point where paying extra fees is really unnecessary. If you don't intend to pay taxes on it don't split it up into amounts that will attract FINTRAC attention (i.e. reporting $9,900 all the time to avoid the $10,000 report threshold because it will look suspicious). You can withdraw money under the $10,000 threshold at irregular intervals/irregular amounts but it will take time to get the money liquid. You will still face the possibility of CRA audit but it's lessened. Anyway sort of delving into other matters with tax tangent but there is a lot to consider.

[forsberg21]

It depends if you intend to pay taxes on it or not. If you intend to pay taxes just do a lump sum via a branch manager. If you're worried about transfer risk split the sum but there comes a point where paying extra fees is really unnecessary. If you don't intend to pay taxes on it don't split it up into amounts that will attract FINTRAC attention (i.e. reporting $9,900 all the time to avoid the $10,000 report threshold because it will look suspicious). You can withdraw money under the $10,000 threshold at irregular intervals/irregular amounts but it will take time to get the money liquid. You will still face the possibility of CRA audit but it's lessened. Anyway sort of delving into other matters with tax tangent but there is a lot to consider.

You don't have to pay taxes on gambling winnings in Canada, how does this apply?

A few years ago, I got a cheque in the mid 5 digits from an online poker site, deposited the entire thing straight into my Bank of Montreal account, and got a "congratulations" from the teller.

No need to worry. No CRA audit, nothing.

[mrmarket]

Reasonable expectation of profit. There is precedent in SB. Gray area in poker. Poker is likely taxable but CRA is too inept to do anything about it.

[Peep]

I have done 12K and 15K wires into CIBC with zero questions/problems.

[jackkkk2009]

DO they accept US customers?

[forsberg21]

DO they accept US customers?

I'm sure they would, I opened a Bank of America account with a Canadian passport. The trick is setting up the account. If you're close to the border, that shouldn't be a problem.

[jackkkk2009]

I'm a US citizen. If Canadian banks allow me to open accounts, will they also allow me to transfer money to/withdraw from online gambling sites?

[Ira Wilton]

Reasonable expectation of profit. There is precedent in SB. Gray area in poker. Poker is likely taxable but CRA is too inept to do anything about it.

Mr. Market,

Have you read Leblanc v. the Queen?

Not only would it be extremely difficult for the Crown to prove this (they have yet to succeed other than a pool player that treated playing pool like a job and played sober against drunk people - see Luprypa), but why would they want to? Every gambler with a "system" would try to claim their losses to offset other taxes owed. Anything else (e.g. claiming losses up to the amount won) would require a legislative change.

...IMO

[thespeculator]

Mr. Market,

Have you read Leblanc v. the Queen?

Not only would it be extremely difficult for the Crown to prove this (they have yet to succeed other than a pool player that treated playing pool like a job and played sober against drunk people - see Luprypa), but why would they want to? Every gambler with a "system" would try to claim their losses to offset other taxes owed. Anything else (e.g. claiming losses up to the amount won) would require a legislative change.

...IMO

just because a person wins it doesn't make them automatically subject to tax, I think that line was added to the tax law because of the brothers from quebec who won like 10 million from proline.

But they won their case , the tax department was not successful in prosecuting them ,from what i have read

[Ira Wilton]

just because a person wins it doesn't make them automatically subject to tax,

Right - I suspect it would take a lot of winning over a prolonged period of time to get CRA's attention.

I think that line was added to the tax law because of the brothers from quebec who won like 10 million from proline.

It wasn't added to the tax law, it was mentioned by the judge hearing the case as a way that gambling winnings could be considered income from a business (and thus taxable).

But they won their case , the tax department was not successful in prosecuting them ,from what i have read

Correct. The Leblanc's didn't have to pay tax on their winnings.

[mathdotcom]

I believe it is taxable if it represents a "consistent and predictable" source of income. So Leblanc's winnings were more in the category of a jackpot win, even though we all know for him it was indeed a consistent and predictable source of income.

[mrmarket]

Leblanc brothers bet huge dogs and long shot parlays which happened to hit. It was judged betting without a reasonable expectation of profit since they did not demonstrate any competency in the way they bet or approached the activity. They subsequently blew all the money on booze and strippers which is a tangent but amusing nonetheless.

I can't remember the case off hand but I might of characterized it inappropriately when I said there was precedent in Sports Betting (which I'm sure there is somewhere) but I was referring to a case that involved horse betting. The person betting horses had an office with all the accouterments and was employing various people in different functions (secretary,running bets,crunching stats etc). It was judged that his activity represented one that had a reasonable expectation of profit and as such was a taxable income.

[mrmarket]

It really boils down to this: You probably should be paying taxes if gambling is your sole income but the chances of being caught by a tax processor are low (due to their ineptitude),the subsequent audit risk is low and it can be legally challenged. As such some may judge it +EV not to pay taxes if they are a professional gambler in Canada. You should have some sort of contingency fund to deal with the legal ramifications and know the possible risks of this decision however.

If you have a job that is the primary source of your income claiming your gambling winnings as a windfall (and as such not subject to taxation) is a possible tax avoidance strategy. If you do this too many times however you may judged as having a reasonable expectation of profit and may be subject to back taxes or future taxation. Some people just pay the tax because they don't want the headache or because of moral views.

[BigSpoon]

Anything Under 10K is the magic # .

Sorry about bumping such an old thread.

Has anything changed in the last ~1.5 years regarding this? I'm just curious and um, asking for a friend.

[mrmarket]

Sorry about bumping such an old thread.

Has anything changed in the last ~1.5 years regarding this? I'm just curious and um, asking for a friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuring

Do the whole amount in one transfer. You'll have headaches if you start structuring and don't know what you're doing.