Last checked: 19 September 2026. This article is general educational information, not individual tax advice. Capital-gains treatment depends on tax residence, asset type, prior residence, elections, treaties and other facts.
You bought an investment years before moving countries. On the day you become tax-resident in the new country, it is already worth much more than you paid. If you later sell it, which number does the new country start from: your original purchase price, the value on arrival, or something else?
That question can change a future capital-gains calculation by tens of thousands. It is also easy to miss because the critical evidence may be needed years after the move, when old brokerage statements, exchange-rate records and valuation reports are harder to reconstruct.
The key lesson: an immigration date is not merely a travel date. In some tax systems it can become a new valuation date for assets you already own. Canada and Australia both have important arrival-value rules, but their exceptions differ. The UK now has a residence-based foreign income and gains regime rather than a simple universal arrival-day rebasing rule. The United States should not be assumed to provide a general market-value reset simply because someone becomes a resident alien.
The Better Places Arrival-Day Asset Snapshot
Before trying to calculate tax, create a record with six fields for every material investment you carry across a border:
| Field | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Tax-residence start date | The date the destination country treats you as becoming resident for tax purposes | This may be the valuation date; it is not always the visa, flight or lease date. |
| Original basis | Purchase price plus relevant acquisition costs and later basis adjustments | Some countries or assets continue to use historical basis. |
| Arrival-day FMV | Fair market value at the relevant residency-change time | Canada and Australia can use this as a deemed acquisition cost for qualifying assets. |
| Currency evidence | Local-currency value and exchange-rate source | A gain measured in one currency can change when translated into the reporting currency. |
| Asset classification | Shares, ETF, foreign real estate, business asset, pension interest and so on | Exceptions often depend on what the asset is and where it is taxable. |
| Evidence file | Broker statement, valuation, closing statement and corporate-action history | The calculation may be challenged years after easy evidence has disappeared. |
This is a recordkeeping framework, not a substitute for the destination country’s tax rules. Its value is preserving the numbers before you know exactly which rule will matter.
Canada: certain property is treated as sold and immediately reacquired at arrival-day FMV
The Canada Revenue Agency tells newcomers that if they owned certain property when they immigrated, they are considered to have sold it and immediately reacquired it at a cost equal to its fair market value on the date they became resident in Canada. CRA tells newcomers to keep a record of that FMV because it becomes the cost used when a future gain or loss is calculated.
CRA: Completing your return for newcomers — property owned before arrival
CRA’s residence guidance also says an individual who enters Canada and establishes Canadian residential ties will generally become resident on the date of entry, subject to the detailed residence rules. Do not simply copy the date printed on an immigration document without confirming the tax-residence date that applies to your facts.
CRA’s T1135 guidance adds another reason to preserve the value: a new resident does not file T1135 for the first resident tax year, and for future T1135 purposes the cost amount of foreign property owned on immigration is its FMV when Canadian residence began.
Australia: market-value deemed acquisition can apply, but the exceptions matter
The Australian Taxation Office states that when someone becomes an Australian resident for tax purposes and is not also a temporary resident, they are taken to have acquired certain CGT assets at that time for their market value. The ATO calls this a deemed acquisition.
The rule does not apply in the same way to pre-CGT assets acquired before 20 September 1985 or to assets already classed as taxable Australian property; general cost-base rules apply to taxable Australian property. Temporary-resident status also changes the CGT analysis substantially.
ATO: Foreign residents, temporary residents and changing residency
This is why “Australia resets your investments when you arrive” is too broad. A foreign share portfolio held by a new resident who is not a temporary resident can be a very different case from Australian real estate that was already taxable Australian property before the move.
A simple $40,000 → $85,000 → $110,000 example
Consider a deliberately simplified investment. Ignore tax rates, exemptions, foreign exchange, transaction costs and asset-specific rules for the moment.
- Original purchase cost: $40,000
- Fair market value when tax residence changes: $85,000
- Later sale price: $110,000
The investment has increased by $70,000 over the owner’s entire holding period: $110,000 − $40,000.
But if a destination-country deemed-acquisition rule validly resets this particular asset’s cost to its $85,000 arrival value, the post-arrival movement used as the starting point for that country’s later calculation is only $25,000: $110,000 − $85,000.
Difference created by the valuation starting point: $45,000.
That is not a prediction of taxable gain. It demonstrates why preserving the correct arrival-day value matters. Real calculations can be changed by currency conversion, capital losses, exemptions, asset classification, treaties, temporary-resident rules and other adjustments.
The counter-intuitive case: an overall loss can coexist with a post-arrival gain
Now reverse the direction. Suppose the original cost was $100,000, arrival-day FMV was $70,000, and the later sale price was $90,000.
Economically, the owner is still down $10,000 from the original purchase. Yet if a valid arrival-day deemed acquisition gives the asset a $70,000 starting value in the new country, the post-arrival movement is a $20,000 increase.
This is why a cross-border investor should not describe an asset simply as “up” or “down” based on the brokerage app. The tax system may be measuring a different holding period from the investor’s personal one.
The UK: do not assume a universal arrival-day step-up
The UK needs a different mental model. From 6 April 2025, the old remittance-basis regime was replaced by the residence-based foreign income and gains (FIG) regime. A qualifying new resident can claim relief on eligible foreign income and gains during the first four tax years of UK residence if the statutory conditions are met, including the required prior non-UK-residence period.
HMRC: Foreign Income and Gains regime — 2026
That should not be rewritten as “the UK rebases all your investments when you arrive.” HMRC also has transitional rebasing provisions for certain current and past remittance-basis users, including qualifying foreign assets held on 5 April 2017. Those are transitional rules with conditions, not a general immigration-day valuation rule for every newcomer.
HMRC: Reforming the taxation of non-UK domiciled individuals
The United States: residence does not create a general FMV reset for ordinary gain calculations
The U.S. provides another warning against assuming all destination countries work alike. IRS guidance says the basis of property is generally its cost, and Publication 519 tells taxpayers selling foreign-currency assets to translate cost and sale amounts using the relevant exchange rates. There is no broad IRS rule saying an ordinary investment automatically receives a new fair-market-value basis simply because a nonresident alien becomes a U.S. resident alien.
IRS: Topic 703 — Basis of assets · IRS Publication 519 — U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
A special inbound basis rule does appear in the expatriation-tax rules under section 877A(h)(2), but it is for determining the later expatriation mark-to-market tax of certain covered expatriates. Treating that specialist rule as a general arrival-day basis reset for ordinary U.S. capital-gains taxation would be misleading.
Your flight date may not be your valuation date
This is where the topic connects to our comparison of tax-residency tests. The relevant date is driven by tax-residence rules, not by whichever date is easiest to find in your calendar.
For someone moving in stages, there can be several plausible dates: visa approval, first entry, the day a permanent home becomes available, the start of employment, or the date old-country residential ties are broken. The correct answer is country- and fact-specific.
Our departure-year and split-year guide explains why the year of a move often has to be divided rather than treated as one uniform tax period.
What to save when your tax residence changes
A strong evidence file does not need to be complicated. For listed investments, save the broker statement and a reliable market-price record showing the relevant date. For property or a private business interest, a defensible independent valuation may be more appropriate. Preserve the original acquisition documents even if you expect an arrival-day reset to apply; an exception may make historical basis relevant later.
- Exact tax-residence start date and how it was determined
- Security name, ticker, ISIN or other unique identifier
- Number of units or shares held
- Original acquisition date and historical cost
- Arrival-day market price or valuation
- Currency and exchange-rate source
- Brokerage fees, reinvestments, splits and other basis adjustments
- Evidence of whether an asset was already taxable property in the destination country
If you hold funds rather than individual shares, also keep the fund’s legal name and domicile. Our cross-border ETF guide shows why the same fund can be classified very differently after a move.
The five-question pre-move valuation test
Before selling, transferring or simply carrying an appreciated investment into a new tax system, work through these questions in order:
- When do I actually become tax-resident? Resolve this before choosing a valuation date.
- Does the destination have a deemed-acquisition or rebasing rule? Do not infer the answer from another country.
- Does my asset qualify? Check exclusions for domestic real property, temporary residents, pre-CGT assets, pensions, business property and specialist regimes.
- What evidence supports FMV on that exact date? A closing price may work for a listed security; a private company or property can require a more robust valuation.
- What other reporting rule uses the same number? Foreign-asset reporting, fund classification and future departure rules can make the arrival record useful again.
The purpose is not to manufacture a favourable valuation. It is to preserve a defensible one while the evidence is available.
Three mistakes that can survive unnoticed for years
Mistake 1: keeping only the original purchase statement. That may be insufficient if the destination later asks for a deemed arrival cost.
Mistake 2: using the first day of the calendar year. A tax-residence change can happen mid-year. The relevant value may need to be measured on a specific date rather than 1 January.
Mistake 3: assuming your broker will fix the tax basis. A brokerage platform may continue displaying historical cost or performance from the original purchase. That display is not necessarily the cost base your new country requires for tax.
Arrival and departure rules should be read together
There is a useful symmetry here. A country can use market value when a person enters its tax net and can also have special rules when that person later leaves. Canada’s newcomer deemed acquisition sits alongside its departure-tax regime. Australia also has separate CGT consequences when residence ceases.
That is why our exit-tax comparison is the logical next step. An investor planning a multi-country life should model both ends of the residency period rather than optimizing only the entry year.
Bottom line
A portfolio can have more than one meaningful “cost” after an international move. Your personal economic history starts when you originally bought the asset. The destination country’s tax history may start later—or may not reset at all.
For Canada and qualifying Australian cases, an arrival-day fair market value can become a critical future number. In the UK, the new FIG regime and transitional provisions require a different analysis. In the U.S., ordinary basis should not be assumed to reset merely because residence begins.
The practical move is simple: determine the tax-residence date, classify each material asset, capture a defensible market value, and keep both the original and arrival records. That small administrative job can prevent a much larger reconstruction problem years later.
Source note: Rules and guidance were checked against the Canada Revenue Agency, Australian Taxation Office, HM Revenue & Customs and U.S. Internal Revenue Service on 19 September 2026. Always re-check the rules in force when you actually dispose of an asset.
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