Question
“I’m a US Citizen and new Canadian resident for 2019. I am filing my Canadian taxes, and need to fill out the T1135. I still have my US bank accounts, IRA’s, Roth IRA’s, and a standard brokerage account. I believe that traditional IRA’s don’t need to be reported, but the Roth IRA and the US brokerage account should be reported? I want to be safe, so what is the right way to fill out this form?”
Answer
You are correct that the traditional IRA does not need to be reported. However, both the Roth and the regular brokerage account will need to be reported, assuming you meet the criteria detailed on the T1135 – Foreign Income Verification Statement:
- If you hold foreign property over $100k, but under $250k, in cost basis, you can report via the Simplified Method.
- If you hold over $250k, you will need to use the Detailed Method.
Assuming you hold over $250k in investments in those accounts, you will then need to individually report each individual security held in the brokerage account in Section 2 of the T1135, along with each security’s cost basis. This can sometimes be tricky, as the broker does not always accurately track the cost basis. (For more reading on cost basis tracking, go here.)
More Reading:
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/t1135/t1135-19e.pdf
