Escaping the Canadian Tax man.
QUESTION: My brother in law is in trouble with the CRA. They have claimed that he owes them over $100,000. He fought them at every level but was not able to get them to change their mind. He asked my advice. But my only thought was to declare bankrupsy and just pull the plug. But he said that was not a sure fire way to avoid the taxman. In some cases people have been socked by the Superintendent of Bankrupsy to pay the whole amount owed to the CRA or a large percentage. So my next guess was to RUN AWAY.. head for a tropical island and just don't hope that the government of Canada has a tax collection agreement with that country. Which made me wonder... WHERE IN THE WORLD could he run to that would be beyond the reach of the CRA collection hounds ? Where would you find a list of countries that would be hostile or non-cooperative with the CRA ? ------------------------------- david ingram replies: This is a simple question and applies to the US and Canada. So far as I know, the only two countries with a mutual collection process are the US and Canada. Therefore, you should be able to go to any other country in the world and escape the clutches of the CRA or IRS as long as you have no assets or property of any kind in either country. In fact, Theoretically, if one kept all their assets in the Bahamas or Panama or the Turks and Caicos, and declared $1,000,000 a year in tax and sent their return in to the IRS or CRA and never paid it, I do not think that anything really serious would happen. There are lots of penalties for under-reporting or failing to file but if you declare everything and don't pay, I know of no case where the taxpayer has got in trouble. The CRA could put you into Bankruptcy but they are still foiled by the inability (as I understand it) of collecting on assets in countries like the Bahamas. I will put this out to the News List and see if there is another opinion out there,. --------------- David Ingram's US / Canada Services US / Canada / Mexico tax, Immigration and working Visa Specialists US / Canada Real Estate Specialists My Home office is at: 4466 Prospect Road North Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V7N 3L7 Cell (604) 657-8451 - (604) 980-0321 Fax (604) 980-0325 Calls welcomed from 10 AM to 10 PM 7 days a week Vancouver (LA) time - (please do not fax or phone outside of those hours as this is a home office) email to taxman at centa.com <mailto:taxman at centa.com> www.centa.com <http://www.centa.com/> www.david-ingram.com <http://www.david-ingram.com/> Disclaimer: This question has been answered without detailed information or consultation and is to be regarded only as general comment. Nothing in this message is or should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. 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