Anyone who moved froM US to Canada ?

njdude26

Registered Users (C)
What did you guys to the existing bank accoutns here ?

Did you close them ? If you dont close them and if an interest is earned on the bank accounts how do you handle them as far as taxes go ?

What about the 401k, IRA or any other tax related stuff ?

Do you just keep filing Non-Resident taxes every year ?
 
What did you guys to the existing bank accoutns here ?

- If you go to Canada for a long term, there is no point in keeping the accounts in the US. (tax hassels) You can open a US account in any Canadian Bank and transfer your funds there.

If you dont close them and if an interest is earned on the bank accounts how do you handle them as far as taxes go ?

-- You have to claim it (only the part u received while u were a cdn resident) in the cdn tax return as a foreign income. (since u do not have a GC and you are not a US citizen). Also, for the year you move (since for the part of that year u were a US resident), you have to claim it as an income in your US tax return as well. This US part will only be the amount you received as an interest when u r a US resident.

What about the 401k, IRA or any other tax related stuff ?

-- Keep it in the US. They are not taxed since you are not withdrawing them, so no tax issues here

Do you just keep filing Non-Resident taxes every year ?

-- NR tax return for the US? No..you just file a tax return (NR/Regular) based on your # of days present in the US. For the subsequent years (for which you are not in the US at all), you do not have to file a US return. (this is because u r not a USC or a GC holder)
 
My plan is to move in October end to Canada.

For 2007 I will probably just get paid as a permanent employee in Canada and everything in US is cleaned up by Jan'07.
My plan is to get paid in the US bank account itself which I will access from Canada for Nov, Dec '06 so that it will be like i was paid in US all year.
Can i do this and not file any taxes in Canada for the year 2006 ? so that I can start fresh from 2007 ?
 
My plan is to get paid in the US bank account itself which I will access from Canada for Nov, Dec '06 so that it will be like i was paid in US all year.
Can i do this and not file any taxes in Canada for the year 2006 ? so that I can start fresh from 2007?


-- Unfortunately, you cannot do that. You can get paid in US, that's fine. But you have to file for a NR tax in Canada. This is because as per the tax law, it is not the place where you get paid, it is the place that you live and work. That's why, if you live and work in Canada for any part of the year, you have to file cdn tax return to report the income you received for that part of the year - does not matter whether you received your pay in Canada, India or the USA.
 
Would I be paying taxes for the entire year in canada !! that will be truly ridiculous. Since I will be staying in Canada for only 2 months infact 1 month out of those 2 ( december) i will be on vacation outside canada !
Let us say i made 50kUSD in the first 10 months and landed in Canada. Then I made 10k in the next 2 months with the US company, would I pay taxes for that 2 months ?
bigboy00 said:
My plan is to get paid in the US bank account itself which I will access from Canada for Nov, Dec '06 so that it will be like i was paid in US all year.
Can i do this and not file any taxes in Canada for the year 2006 ? so that I can start fresh from 2007?


-- Unfortunately, you cannot do that. You can get paid in US, that's fine. But you have to file for a NR tax in Canada. This is because as per the tax law, it is not the place where you get paid, it is the place that you live and work. That's why, if you live and work in Canada for any part of the year, you have to file cdn tax return to report the income you received for that part of the year - does not matter whether you received your pay in Canada, India or the USA.
 
Would I be paying taxes for the entire year in canada !!

- No, you won't. You will file a NR tax return, means you will pay taxes on the income that you received only while in Canada.

Let us say i made 50kUSD in the first 10 months and landed in Canada. Then I made 10k in the next 2 months with the US company, would I pay taxes for that 2 months ?

- So you make $50K while in the US. Then u came to Canada and made $10K while you worked from Canada (for the US company or cdn company does not matter). Then you will file a NR tax return and pay cdn taxes only on $10k.
Remember, if you make $10K (US$$), convert it to cdn$$ and then you pay taxes on that cdn$$ amount.
 
But if I dont have a SIN number till Jan'07 then how will even the Canadian IRS know/care that I made any money ? Im not trying to cheat or something
it is just that I want to get into Canada and setup everything and then I will be outside the country for a month on vacation and really starting to live and work from Jan'07

bigboy00 said:
Would I be paying taxes for the entire year in canada !!

- No, you won't. You will file a NR tax return, means you will pay taxes on the income that you received only while in Canada.

Let us say i made 50kUSD in the first 10 months and landed in Canada. Then I made 10k in the next 2 months with the US company, would I pay taxes for that 2 months ?

- So you make $50K while in the US. Then u came to Canada and made $10K while you worked from Canada (for the US company or cdn company does not matter). Then you will file a NR tax return and pay cdn taxes only on $10k.
Remember, if you make $10K (US$$), convert it to cdn$$ and then you pay taxes on that cdn$$ amount.
 
I actually think it works a different way.

1) You file US Taxes on US income (what amount comes across on W2). You pay taxes in US.

2) You file taxes in Canada also on the income, Whatever is the difference in taxes you pay that marginal difference.

But I would advice you to see a cross border tax attorney when you go to Canada. My friend had the same problem - the company thought these tax hassels were not worth it and forced him to go on Canada payroll.
 
What TexanCdn says is true for a cdn resident. As a cdn resident (for the full year), you pay the cdn taxes on ur worldwide income and take foreign tax credit on the part of the income that you paid taxes on to the foreign country (which is US in this case).

But NR tax does not work that way. Follow what I say. (Call CCRA if you want to verify).

Also, if you are working when u r in Canada (whether for set-up or for something else) and receiving income, u r supposed to pay cdn taxes. I am not sure how CCRA would know, but this is what the law says.

texancanadian said:
I actually think it works a different way.

1) You file US Taxes on US income (what amount comes across on W2). You pay taxes in US.

2) You file taxes in Canada also on the income, Whatever is the difference in taxes you pay that marginal difference.

But I would advice you to see a cross border tax attorney when you go to Canada. My friend had the same problem - the company thought these tax hassels were not worth it and forced him to go on Canada payroll.
 
njdude26 said:
But if I dont have a SIN number till Jan'07 then how will even the Canadian IRS know/care that I made any money ? Im not trying to cheat or something
it is just that I want to get into Canada and setup everything and then I will be outside the country for a month on vacation and really starting to live and work from Jan'07

njdude26,

If you just go there (to Canada) for a week or so to book an apt and come back to the US (and for a vacation which will be out of Canada), then I guess it is not considered to be a residency establishment. That way, you should be okay if you directly go to Canada in 2007 to start your job and to start ur residency. Then you will be responsible for 2007 cdn taxes.

Good luck..
 
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