How do I do it?
I want to take the max without having to declare it, which is 10000$ or around 270,000nt.
Should I go to the bank and convert my nt’s into Canadian cash and carry it over?
Or get a money order? I have no idea how those work.
What is the smartest/cheapest/easiest way? :help:
Do the forex here. Most Canadian banks won’t negotiate NTD.
Cash is fine, if you are comfortable carrying it, though they will question you about it. Even if you don’t have to declare it, it’s pretty common now for Canadian customs to ask you how much you are carrying. They can’t really do anything if you are under $10,000, but be prepared to be questioned suspiciously and given the once over.
A cashier’s cheque (issued by your bank, in your name) is also fine. There’s like an NT$50 issuing fee for the cheque itself. But find out what your bank in Canada will charge to cash such a cheque, because rates vary greatly from bank to bank. I seem to recall about CDN$20 or so the last time I did one. Also, find out their time frame for processing them; most banks will only credit your account after they have received the funds, up to 10 days in some cases.
You could wire it, (telegraphic transfer), though again, find out what your Canadian bank will charge as a receiving fee. It’ll cost NTD$400 from here, but your Canadian bank’s receiver fee could be anywhere from CDN$10-60, depending on the path the money takes. Some smaller Canadian banks don’t have the capacity to receive international transfers or transfers from certain countries, so the transaction has to be re-routed through another bank that does. Each stop along the way incurs a charge.
Thanks a lot for the help!
I guess cash is the easiest way to go.
I bank at China Trust.
Do you know offhand if I’ll be able to get CDN cash there, or will I have to make a withdrawal there, and go to another bank for CDN money?
I’ve done close to CDN$10k at the airport. They don’t usually have a problem with it.
Your local bank branch can probably do it for you, though I suspect they might not carry that much CDN in cash reserves. They’d probably need time to procure it for you.
Thanks for that very helpful advice.
The airport sounds best, as I’d be wary about having that much cash sitting in my house.
Now the next unrelated question:
I haven’t paid my taxes in about 2 years.
Will that be a problem at the airport?
Yes, I am coming back here and have a return ticket.
Yeah, that may be a problem.
Leaving the country without paying taxes and with a bundle of cash? 
Have you left the country in the last couple of years?
Don’t you get a lesser exchange rate/ higher fees at the airport?
[quote=“Jaboney”]Leaving the country without paying taxes and with a bundle of cash?
Have you left the country in the last couple of years?[/quote]
I haven’t left since last summer.
And geez, how will they find out about my bundle of cash when it’s taped all over my body?
The airport exchange counters in Taoyuan are run by local banks (Mega and Taiwan Bank, if memory serves). Their rates are competitive, if not the same as rates at any bank in the city, IMHO.
Btw, travellers are not required to declare goods or money they are exporting on departure from a country. That only happens at customs upon entry to a country.
Josefus, if you were worried about it and did want to file your taxes, you can back file for several years at the same time. The tax office doesn’t make a stink about it. It’s apparently quite common here.
Yeah, I’m not too worried about it, just lazy. I last filed them 2 years ago, and at that time I was also filing two years late. I think they fined me like 100nt or something ridiculously small like that. It wasn’t a big deal.
I’ve decided to just get travelers cheques here in CDN funds. I contacted my bank in Canada, and they’ll deposit them for free there. Problem solved.
[quote=“Josefus”]
I’ve decided to just get travelers cheques here in CDN funds. I contacted my bank in Canada, and they’ll deposit them for free there. Problem solved.[/quote]
was going to recommend that to you, but you already know.
Thanks.
I’m still learning about this stuff.
The bank has them in denominations of 100 or 500$ CDN.