US bank account for paypal

[xtremetech99]

Anyone here withdrawing US funds from paypal to their Canadian US bank account? 

Right now im loosing alot of money in exchange fees because im unable to withdraw US funds to a Canadian Bank account.  I heard if you have a RBC US bank account you can add that as a US Bank account and withdraw to there. I ended up opening up a RBC US Bushiness account and was unable to get them to link. 

I did call paypal and ask them ,  they said it is not possible unless it is a US account.  From what i understand opening up a US business account if your registered in canada isnt possible. 

[musicyouneed]

This was a response on another thread but may help you.

Actually, the easiest way is to walk into any TD branch in Canada, and have them refer you to opening a TD account in the USA.

It does NOT require ever going to the USA.

Everything is done through the phone and through the mail.

The whole process takes about one month, and at the end, you have a US account with a specific branch  (mine is in Albany NY which is the closest branch to Buffalo NY).

The best part is your TD accounts are linked online,  you can transfer funds from your USA account into your TD account in Canada (and even keep it in US funds if you have a US funds account in Canada).

The transfers are done by phone,  they are actually wire transfers at no cost to you  (fees refunded the next day).

[femmefan1946]

RBCbank is another Canadian owned bank that is a US bank of the type you require. They are fully owned by the Royal Bank. I believe they are only interested in your business if you already have a commercial account with them. But that also allows you to accept VISA payments directly, so there's that.

You should be aware that if you are not processing the kind of  money that a small business normally does, the US bank account (RBC or TDNorth) may be more expensive than your current system.

And to give you a vague idea about what that means, I was in a local diner a few weeks ago and the staff was talking about a slow Saturday when they only took in $700 all day. And two weeks later, they were out of business.

Look at the costs very carefully.

[pjcdn2005]

If you were able to put U.S. dollars right into a bank account, would you have to convert them to Canadian dollars and pay an exchange at some point anyway?

[recped]

You are in Waterloo, the fastest way is to take a quick drive to Buffalo and open an account in person at one of the regional banks (M&T Bank would be a good choice). You need the usual pile of id, nothing more really than you need to cross the border these days. You need to also ask for an IRS form WBEN-8 and fill that out. I would stick with a low fee /  no fee personal savings/checking account, you'll get a Visa branded debit card you can use as a credit card.

If the funds you are bringing in are enough to make it worthwhile you can open an account with xe.com to do your forex when you want to move money from the US account back to Canada and covert to Canadian funds, their commission is usually around .75% compared to the banks 1.75 - 2.50% or PayPal's 2.5%.

Pre-011 you could do this on the phone with almost any US bank, since then they are somewhat leery of doing it on the phone but in person should not be any problem.

[ricarmic]

Note that things may be different now, but in days gone by the TD or RBC "US" bank accounts still didn't count, it had to actually be a US bank account.

The Canadian banks may have done something to fix this in the last decade though. Maybe someone here has one that is working ok now - I don't know because I did what recped suggests 10 years ago so it hasn't been a problem for me.

(The way it works is I put the US$ into the US bank, then I write a cheque to myself and deposit into my US$ account with the Canadian bank, and can use something like XEtrade to convert)

Having said this, I've just been withdrawing directly for quite some time, because my experience in the past was that by the time I went through my "process" the dollar value had changed enough to offset much of the "savings" of executing the process, although sometimes the opposite was true too. I do note that if you keep an eye on the $ value, the PAYPAL conversion rate is behind a bit, so if our dollar value goes up, and one catches it quick enough one gets the lower (aka better) value.

[spiggy_topes]

I know this is several months late, but worth noting for others. I now have a US account with BMO Harris linked to my PayPal account. Setting up the account was quite straightforward, took around a week with documents by mail and so forth.

I have accounts with BMO in Canada - but I don't think that's necessary -, and previously had to transfer US funds into Canadian, and then pay by credit card for supplies from the US, so it was costing me roughly 2% US --> Canadian, 2% Canadian --> US, 2% credit card fees. Now, I use online banking at BMO Harris and request that a paper cheque be sent to my supplier, at no extra cost. Works just fine for me.

[hlmacdon]

I know some are using the routing work around to add a US bank account to a Canadian paypal account with varying degrees of success, but are there any issues in adding a US bank account to a Canadian paypal account in general, or does it have to be added to a US paypal account if It is a domestic US bank?

[izzame]

Just a heads up, as things may have changed. I did the US bank acct with RBC ..... no issues everything great. 

How I did it was: Payments in US funds go into US bank acct. when I wanted so $$$$ I'd go to the branch, take out what I wanted (pd whatever that day's exchange rate) Now, personally I do move things around (transferring funds from 1 acct. to another) as I don't believe in "keeping your eggs all in one basket" so, I'm going along thinking this is really going smooth and no exchange rate etc. with Paypal. I get to keep my payments in US funds and deal with the exchange when and the amount that I wish . Until the following Feb. I receive in the mail a US IRS tax form to fill out and contribute taxes to. Needless to say the next A.M I was there when the bank opened and closed the US account.  Dealing with CRA & IRS to me   just isn't worth having a US bank account.

Things may be different now, but I'd check into it so that you aren't totally "Blindsided" by the IRS as I was. ( we're talking year total @12,000.00) 

Have to get ready for last X FILES ..... GONE TO MAKE POPCORN

[recped]

The IRS WBEN-8 form is nothing to worry about, I'm not even sure that US banks do anything with it other than keep it in their own files.

The annoying part is that under the homeland security provision they have get a new one every two year or so.

If you don't provide the completed form the bank has to do withholding tax on any earned interest on the account and they get uppity and threaten to close your account.

[hlmacdon]

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@izzame wrote:

Just a heads up, as things may have changed. I did the US bank acct with RBC ..... no issues everything great. 

How I did it was: Payments in US funds go into US bank acct. when I wanted so $$$$ I'd go to the branch, take out what I wanted (pd whatever that day's exchange rate) Now, personally I do move things around (transferring funds from 1 acct. to another) as I don't believe in "keeping your eggs all in one basket" so, I'm going along thinking this is really going smooth and no exchange rate etc. with Paypal. I get to keep my payments in US funds and deal with the exchange when and the amount that I wish . Until the following Feb. I receive in the mail a US IRS tax form to fill out and contribute taxes to. Needless to say the next A.M I was there when the bank opened and closed the US account.  Dealing with CRA & IRS to me   just isn't worth having a US bank account.

@Things may be different now, but I'd check into it so that you aren't totally "Blindsided" by the IRS as I was. ( we're talking year total @12,000.00) 

Have to get ready for last X FILES ..... GONE TO MAKE POPCORN

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Was this a US based account? If you didn't fill out a W8 that could be why, or if you had used a US address/phone if it was a Canadian based USD account. As long as you are properly reporting income to the CRA I would think you would be fine.

[hlmacdon]

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@recped wrote:

The IRS WBEN-8 form is nothing to worry about, I'm not even sure that US banks do anything with it other than keep it in their own files.

The annoying part is that under the homeland security provision they have get a new one every two year or so.

If you don't provide the completed form the bank has to do withholding tax on any earned interest on the account and they get uppity and threaten to close your account.

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From my limited reading it is every 3 years, otherwise the bank has to withhold as appropriate and report to IRS. Something I need to discuss with the accountant as it is one of those nagging things I've been meaning to get around to addressing.

[mcrlmn]

The only way to transfer your U.S. dollars is to have an account south of the border at a U.S. financial institution.
I had to open an account in Point Roberts, U.S.A.

[hlmacdon]

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@mcrlmn wrote:
The only way to transfer your U.S. dollars is to have an account south of the border at a U.S. financial institution.
I had to open an account in Point Roberts, U.S.A.

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Did you encounter any issues with linking that to your Canadian paypal account? Ideally I'd like to keep activity to one account.

[ricarmic]

Hi! I have my PAYPAL account hooked up to my Canadian account and the US account with a US based bank. I had no problems hooking the US one up but that was many moons ago now.......

[dutchman48]

I have both a Canadian bank acct and US bank acct tied to my Canadian Paypal and have no issues at all. I set it up last year.

[hlmacdon]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

I have both a Canadian bank acct and US bank acct tied to my Canadian Paypal and have no issues at all. I set it up last year.

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Thanks for the confirmation.

[decal-fx]

Thanks Recped for the tip about XE.com ,  that can save me thousands a year, signed up there this AM.

[imbuzzy]

"Anyone here withdrawing US funds from paypal to their Canadian US bank account?"

Short answer: YES

Do your homework.  This issue has been discussed a few times in the forums.  Many naysayers will chime in beating to the standard canned Paypal policy tune.  Believe in those who are willing to go further than that. Google will give you positive results - so will these discussion boards (hint: look through the Seller Updates thread).

[imbuzzy]

"If you were able to put U.S. dollars right into a bank account, would you have to convert them to Canadian dollars and pay an exchange at some point anyway?"

Variety is nice.  Having the ability to choose which currency exchange service I wish to use is nice.

I can choose my bank (for convenience), Kantor, Knightsbridge, or Xe.com.  All have much more competitive rates than Paypal.

I also can withdraw my US dollars as US cash (with no fees whatsoever) and go on vacation to the States and not have to worry about any crazy exchange rate.