Capital gains on U.S.-dollar accounts

[cat]

I just read an article "Canadian investors: Beware of the tax hit on U.S.-dollar accounts" which stated when the value of money held in a US dollar savings account rises as the Canadian dollar falls, currency gains may be taxable.

I am a dual citizen living in Canada with US dollar accounts (in the US) which holds money that was gifted over the years and from some inherited money and I use this account when I visit home. If my money was never converted from Canadian dollars to US dollars then do I need to worry about capital gains as a result of currency fluctuations? I always report the interest earned 1st to the CRA and then to the IRS and I file the T1135 but want to make sure I am not missing anything.

[nelsona]

As long as you are not "buying" large purchases with this Cdn money, the gains (in USD ) are not substantial enough to warrant calculating gains/losses. But if you were, say to but gold, stocks, a car, a house down payment with that cash, then you might have to try and determine the value of the cash in USD when you received it, and the values in USD when you used it, and report any gain over $200.

But if you are simply using this on vacation in US, or converting a little here and there, you don't need to worry.

The article explained this, I'm sure.

[cat]

Does this mean that gains need to be reported if I took 60K of money I inherited in 2011 (always reporting earned interest yearly) and deposited this year in my Canadian savings account to use for expenses?

[nelsona]

Funds that you change from USD to CAD (or anything else), can trigger a gain for CRA purposes -- if the amount is large enough.

Funds you change from CAD to USD (or anything else) can trigger a gain for IRS purpose -- if the amount is large enough.

$60K would seem to be a large enough exchange to warrant calculating the gain you made over the years.