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Exchange Rates for Converting US Currency to Canadian Currency

All transactions must be reported in Canadian currency on a Canadian tax return.  When the transaction is for the purchase of an asset or investment, the exchange rate in effect on the date of the transaction should be used.  However, sometimes the annual average exchange rate can be used, such as for dividends received throughout the year.

To get the exchange rate for a particular date use:

University of BC Pacific Exchange Rate Service using their Database Retrieval or

Bank of Canada Daily Exchange Rates Lookup.

Both of the above allow download of rates in various formats, including Excel (csv or xls).

The exchange rates for years up to and including April 28, 2017 are now considered "legacy" rates by the Bank of Canada, and the noon, closing, monthly average and annual average rates can be downloaded from the Bank of Canada Historical Noon and Closing Rates.

We've compiled the following table of year end and annual average exchange rates that are produced by the Bank of Canada, and can be used to convert income such as dividends, from US$ to Cdn$.  To get the Cdn $ equivalent, multiply the US$ amount by the factor from the table.  Use the year end rates to convert the total of your US investments at year end, in order to calculate your investment returns using our Investment Return Calculator.

As you can see below, from 1997 to 2023, the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar (C$ per US$) only in 2011 and 2012.  When the Canadian dollar is worth less than the US dollar, the cost of almost everything goes up for Canadians.

TaxTips.ca Resources

Reporting Foreign Transactions - which exchange rate to use

Reporting Foreign Assets Owned On Form T1135

Revised: November 20, 2024