Sending money from Canada to the US comes down to three things: getting the recipient’s US banking details right, choosing a method whose true cost you understand, and clearing the reporting rules that kick in at $10,000 CAD. Most transfers land in one to five business days. The wire fee is rarely the expensive part.
What You Need Before You Start
Collect the recipient’s details first. You need the nine-digit ABA routing number of their US bank, which is not the same as a Canadian institution and transit number and can’t be substituted for one.1U.S. Bank. U.S. Bank Routing Number You need their account number at that bank. And you need the receiving bank’s SWIFT code (also called a BIC), an eight- or eleven-character identifier that acts as the bank’s global address; the eleven-character version pins down a specific branch.2Swift. Business Identifier Code (BIC) Most banks publish their SWIFT codes on their websites and statements.
Get the recipient’s full legal name exactly as it appears on the account, and include their physical address. SWIFT rules require the beneficiary name and account number on every instruction, and a misspelled name or a transposed digit can strand the money in a holding account for days while the banks reconcile it.
On your side, expect to show government-issued photo ID — a passport or driver’s license — before your institution will process the transfer.3FFIEC BSA/AML InfoBase. Assessing Compliance with BSA Regulatory Requirements – Customer Identification Program For larger amounts, banks often ask for proof of the source of funds. Recent pay stubs, a signed contract of sale, tax returns, or investment statements showing the withdrawal all typically qualify, depending on the institution’s compliance policies.
Choosing a Transfer Method
Speed, cost, and how much money actually arrives all depend on the method you pick.
SWIFT Wire Transfer
A wire is the standard route for larger sums. Your bank pushes a payment instruction through the SWIFT network to the recipient’s bank, which credits the account when the message clears. Wires are processed individually rather than batched, so they settle faster than other electronic options. Sending fees from Canadian banks generally run $30 to $80 depending on the institution and whether you initiate the transfer online or at a branch. The recipient’s US bank may also charge an incoming wire fee, and an intermediary bank routing the payment between the two can deduct its own fee from the amount in transit. If you want the recipient to receive an exact amount, ask your bank to route the fees to your account rather than the transfer itself.
ACH and Peer-to-Peer Platforms
Automated clearing house transfers and peer-to-peer services cost less than wires and suit smaller or recurring payments. These services batch transactions, which is why per-transfer fees drop and settlement takes longer. Many peer-to-peer platforms hold accounts in both countries: your Canadian dollars go into a domestic account and the recipient is paid from a separate US pool. Because the conversion happens inside the platform, the exchange rate spread is often tighter than what a traditional bank quotes.
Bank Draft
A bank draft is a check guaranteed by the issuing bank. The funds leave your account immediately, and the bank itself stands behind the payment. You can mail it or hand it over, and the recipient deposits it at their US bank. This avoids wire fees, but you take on physical transit time and the risk of a lost document. The recipient’s bank may also hold the deposit until the draft clears, which can take a week or more for an international instrument.
The Exchange Rate Is Where the Money Goes
Flat fees get the attention. The exchange rate markup takes the money. Banks and transfer services do not convert your Canadian dollars at the mid-market rate you see on Google or financial news. They add a spread, typically 2.5% to 3.5% above mid-market, and keep the difference. On a $10,000 CAD transfer, that markup alone costs $250 to $350. The $30 to $80 wire fee is a rounding error next to it.
The markup is nearly invisible because most institutions don’t break it out. They quote you “their” exchange rate and leave you to assume it’s the real one. Peer-to-peer platforms and currency specialists often run spreads under 1%. For a one-time small transfer the difference may not be worth switching providers; for $50,000 or a recurring payment, shopping the rate is where the real savings sit.
US federal rules help. Any provider that qualifies as a remittance transfer provider must give you a pre-payment disclosure showing the exchange rate, all fees, and the exact amount the recipient will receive, before you commit.4eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.31 – Disclosures That disclosure lets you line providers up next to each other. Get quotes from two or three before sending anything significant.
Sending the Transfer and Cancelling if You Need To
Once you’ve chosen a provider and entered the recipient’s details, the platform will show you a summary of the rate, fees, and the amount arriving on the other side. Check every field. A wrong digit in the routing number sends the money to the wrong bank, and recovering a misdirected wire is slow and not always successful. Most institutions require multi-factor authentication to confirm; some banks require a branch visit and a signed wire agreement for very large amounts. Keep the confirmation number the platform issues. That is how both banks identify the transfer if anything goes wrong.
You get a short cancellation window. Under US federal rules, you can cancel a remittance transfer and receive a full refund, including fees, if you contact the provider within 30 minutes of paying, as long as the recipient hasn’t already received the funds.5eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.34 – Procedures for Cancellation and Refund of Remittance Transfers The provider must process the refund within three business days. After 30 minutes, whether you can pull it back depends on the provider’s policies and whether the receiving bank has already credited the account.
Canadian Reporting at $10,000
Canada’s anti-money-laundering framework runs under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, which established FINTRAC.6Department of Justice Canada. Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (S.C. 2000, c. 17) Any electronic funds transfer of $10,000 CAD or more triggers a mandatory report from your financial institution to FINTRAC.7FinCEN. Appendix E – Cross-Border Funds Transfer Reporting Your bank files it automatically. You are still legally responsible for the accuracy of what you tell them: your identity, the source of funds, and the purpose of the transfer.
Deliberately breaking a larger amount into smaller transfers to stay under the $10,000 line is structuring, and it is a criminal offense under the Act. Penalties can include substantial fines and imprisonment. The structuring itself is illegal even when the underlying money is entirely legitimate.
The Canada Revenue Agency runs a parallel system. Since 2015, financial institutions have been required to report international electronic funds transfers of $10,000 CAD or more to the CRA, which uses the data to identify taxpayers who may be hiding income or assets offshore.8Canada.ca. Electronic Funds Transfer Reporting If you’re sending investment gains, business income, or other taxable amounts, make sure that income has been reported on your Canadian tax return.
What the US Recipient May Have to File
The person receiving the money may have their own reporting obligation, and it’s worth knowing about even as the sender, particularly when you’re sending to a family member who may not realize a filing is required.
A US person who receives gifts or bequests totaling more than $100,000 in a single tax year from a nonresident alien, which includes a Canadian resident who is not a US citizen or green card holder, must report the gifts on IRS Form 3520.9Internal Revenue Service. Gifts From Foreign Person Each individual gift over $5,000 must be separately identified. The gift itself is not taxed as income; this is a reporting requirement. The penalties for failing to file are heavy: an initial penalty equal to the greater of $10,000 or 35% of the gross reportable amount, with an additional $10,000 for every 30-day period the form stays unfiled after a 90-day notice.10Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File the Form 3520/3520-A Penalties Form 3520 is also the form for reporting transactions with a foreign trust, so distributions from a Canadian trust to a US beneficiary carry their own filings.11Internal Revenue Service. About Form 3520 – Annual Return To Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts
A separate US rule, the FBAR, applies to US persons who hold foreign bank accounts totaling more than $10,000 at any point in the year, not to receiving a wire.12FinCEN. Reporting Maximum Account Value If the recipient is a dual citizen or recent immigrant who still keeps Canadian accounts, that’s a filing they need to look at; a one-time inbound transfer to a US account on its own does not trigger it.
If You’re Carrying Cash Instead
Wiring is not the only option, and the border rules on physical cash come up often enough to be worth stating. Anyone leaving Canada with currency or monetary instruments worth $10,000 CAD or more (or the foreign currency equivalent at the Bank of Canada’s posted rate) must declare it to the Canada Border Services Agency on Form E667.13Canada Border Services Agency. E667 – Cross-Border Currency or Monetary Instruments Report – General14Canada Border Services Agency. Memorandum D19-14-1 – Cross-Border Currency and Monetary Instruments Reporting Regulations Failing to declare can lead to seizure and a penalty of 5% to 25% of the amount depending on the offense history.
Entering the US with more than $10,000 USD in currency or monetary instruments requires a declaration to US Customs and Border Protection. For families or groups traveling together, the threshold applies to the combined total, not per person.15U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Money and Other Monetary Instruments There is no tax on the cash and no legal cap on the amount you can bring. Undeclared currency over the threshold is subject to seizure and forfeiture.