"Le Canuck" <flowersneil4494[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

There is no limitation in the tax law that would prevent an
IRA from holding foreign securities and foreign funds.
Perhaps the various sponsor firms will have their own
policies on this but that is a matter of their contracts.

AFAIK, only US financial institutions can function as IRA
custodians.

You should check with various brokerages to see which ones
might allow trading on foreign exchanges.

Lanny K. Williams, CPA
Nawarat, Williams & Co., Ltd.
Income Tax Services for Expatriate Americans

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

I have about $55,000 invested in an IRA with TIAA-CREF.

I want to take some or all of this money out of this
American institution and-preferably-place it in an account
where I can hold both American and Canadian funds. I want to
do this because I want to invest a bunch of it in a stock
that is traded on on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

TD Waterhouse once offered a brokerage account/IRA (called a
481, I believe) which did allow a person to keep both U.S.
and Canandian funds in the same account and to trade on the
TSX. But this account isn't offered anymore.

Thinking this problem through, I wonder if, indeed it is
possible to set up such an account. How would the taxes be
paid, for example, if I wanted to withdraw funds? To the
U.S., because that's where the money originally came from?
Or a share of it to Canada if the stock takes off and I sell
some shares?

Or does it come down to this?: I have to withdraw funds from
the TIAA-CREF account, pay the relevant taxes, and then use
the remaining cash to buy the stock on the TSX.

Best regards,
Le Canuck

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >