Make changes to the Canadian investment account

chelavnzuo · Post by **chelavnzuo** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:04 am

Iâ€™m a non-resident of Canada and a resident of US.

Iâ€™m in the process of applying for an TD Ameritrade account in the US, and plan to transfer all my Canadian investment from BMO InvestorLine to the new Ameritrade account.

While Iâ€™m still waiting for Ameritrade to setup my account in the US, can I still trade in my BMO InvestorLine account?

To be specific, I want to:
1.Sell Canadian stocks and Canadian ETFs in the BMO InvestorLine Account.
2.Convert the CAD proceeds to USD.
3.Buy some US index fund (S&P500) in my USD account with BMO InvestorLine.
4.Once the Ameritrade account is setup (probably within a month), in-kind transfer everything from the BMO InvestorLine USD account.

Thanks in advance!

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:19 am

You can sell of course.
But you cannot buy.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:20 am

You can sell of course.
But you cannot buy.

chelavnzuo · Post by **chelavnzuo** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:55 pm

Thanks nelsona.

One more question:

US capital gain tax is lower if I hold a stock for more than 1 year. However is this calculated based on my actual purchase date or the date I became an US resident?

For example, if I purchased a stock on Jan 1st 2017, left Canada on April 1st 2017, and am still holding this stock.
If I sell it today on Mar 3rd , will the capital gain get taxed at the long-term rate (15%) or short-term rate (35%)?

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sun Mar 04, 2018 7:01 am

The IRS doesn't have the concept of deemed disposition or acquisition on moving to/from US, so cap gains would be based on the time you held the investment.

There is a procedure to invoke the treaty to allow you to use the deemed disposition price of your investment (which you reported on your departure tax return in Canada), but that would not alter whether these were long=term gains for US purposes, just the cost basis.