Taxes on US brokerage stocks when returning to Canada

[renewedcanuck]

I worked in the US on a TN/H1B for 3 years as a US tax resident.

I returned to Canada in December 2010, with a US brokerage account containing stocks (not mutual funds) worth about $120K.

I've just let them sit there, haven't traded them. I want to move them to Canada now, and I'm wondering who I owe what taxes to.

Based on searching the forum archives, I think this is the case:

* my cost basis for CRA purposes is the stock's FMV when I moved to Canada in December 2010
* I can have a Canadian brokerage receive the stocks in-kind from the US brokerage
* I don't owe the US taxes on any capital gains (nor can I declare benefits from losses), just taxes on the dividends I've received
* I won't owe the CRA anything until I actually sell the stocks

Is that true? That seems...far too reasonable. It also seems like a heck of a deal for people who had capital gains, that their cost basis gets reset.

Am I missing something? I used <a>thread 1</a>, <a>thread 2</a>, and <a>thread 3</a> as sources for this conclusion.

[renewedcanuck]

Bah, my links didn't seem to work:

* http://forums.serbinski.com/viewtopic.p ... 69e1d97640
* http://forums.serbinski.com/viewtopic.p ... de1deb36ad
* http://forums.serbinski.com/viewtopic.p ... 1b2eac2d0c

[nelsona]

Your conclusions are correct.

They would also be correct if you sold these thru the US brokerage, since where you sell the stocks has no bearing on any of this.