Technical article

Canada and Australia: Listed Personal Property and Collectables

A loss on this group can be used only against gains on the same group.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Imagine a widow in Vancouver with a stamp collection and a son in Perth. She wonders what each country would ask of the collection if it were sold, given or left. The two countries use different words and different lines, though both sort valuables into a special group.

Canada

The Income Tax Act sets a floor. For personal-use property, the cost and the sale proceeds are each treated as at least CAD 1,000 (about US$720). A small item bought for CAD 50 and sold for CAD 800 is therefore treated as bought for CAD 1,000 and sold for CAD 1,000, with no gain.

A smaller group gets special treatment. Listed personal property means prints, etchings, drawings, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, rare folios, rare manuscripts, rare books, stamps and coins. A loss on this group can be used only against gains on the same group. It can be carried back three years and forward seven. Items outside the list, such as cars, watches, wine and antique furniture, are ordinary personal-use property, and their losses are denied.

At death, the person is treated as having sold each capital property at fair market value just before death, and the heir is treated as acquiring it at that value. A gift is also a sale at fair market value. One Canadian planner gives a striking example of a card bought for CAD 5,000 and worth CAD 5 million at death, giving a gain of nearly CAD 5 million on the final return even if nothing is sold. That is one planner's warning, not an official figure.

A gain is not recognized if an object certified by the Cultural Property Export Review Board is given to a designated Canadian institution. Canada has no inheritance tax, but provinces charge probate fees, for example CAD 15 per CAD 1,000 over CAD 50,000 in Ontario. A representative who distributes assets without a clearance certificate can be personally liable for the deceased's unpaid tax.

Australia

The Australian Taxation Office tests collectables at AUD 500 and personal use assets at AUD 10,000 (about US$6,500), both measured on what the owner paid.

Collectable losses offset only collectable gains, and losses on personal use assets are ignored. For an asset acquired after 20 September 1985, there is no capital gains tax on death when it passes to a beneficiary. The exception is a gain triggered just before death if the asset goes to a foreign resident or a tax-advantaged entity.

An inherited collectable keeps its status. So the AUD 500 or AUD 10,000 test uses what the deceased paid, not the value at death. One superannuation guide says a self-managed fund can hold art, jewelry, coins, wine and cars only under conditions, including no storage in a private home.

Selling across the border

Australia's resale royalty is 5% on commercial resales of artworks for AUD 1,000 or more. Travelers entering or leaving Canada must declare CAD 10,000 or more in currency or monetary instruments. Australia asks the same at AUD 10,000 in cash. The Australian financial intelligence agency says bullion and precious metals need not be reported to it.

The objection

You might say the Canadian rule looks harsh next to the Australian one. The two systems start from different places. Canada counts a gain at death and then resets the cost for the heir. Australia sets the gain aside at death but carries the old status into the heir's hands.

Doors you could open

You could list each item with its cost and the year you bought it. You could ask which group it falls in under each country's definition.

Have you held a collection in either country? Share what you found. Someone with a son abroad may be asking the same thing.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.