MessageGood morning, I recently posted a question to your website but since ours is a somewhat time sensitive matter, I am interested in a consultation with your firm regarding our immigration/tax situation. My husband is an American citizen and I am Canadian; we currently live in the US. We lived in Canada for 16 months after my husband obtained permanent resident status there then, for availability of work, moved to the US after I obtained a US green card. My question is regarding his Canadian PR status which will expire in November. We recently learned that his status could still be intact due to the fact that he was outside the country with a Canadian citizen, contributing to his residency requirement. We would like to return to Canada but are concerned about the tax implications if he renews his resident status there. When we left Canada, we cut ties to the country for tax reasons (sold property, cancelled accounts, paid departure tax etc.). We did not, however, notify immigration officials that we were leaving Canada. But, if we renew his PR status, which would imply that he never ceased to be a Canadian resident, would we then be liable for Canadian taxes for the three years that we lived in the US? In a nutshell: 1. Will renewing PR status make us liable for Canadian back-taxes? 2. Is there a way to renew his PR status and obtain the new PR card from outside of Canada? (Ideally we would like to move back next spring rather than before this November when his status expires.) 3. If we let his PR status expire, what is the process for him to re-immigrate to Canada? 4. We have an incorporated business (LLC) in the US which we both work for. We would likely incorporate in Canada if we moved back and remain self-employed. If he has to re-immigrate, will I still be able to sponsor him if we move back to Canada even though I have been living and working in the US for the past 3 years? 5. Or, what are the tax responsibilities if we continue to work for our company which is incorporated in the US while living in Canada? Please let me know if this is something which you can advise us on and what your consultation fee would be. Sincerely, ==================================== david ingram replies: For free, unless you have a pressing problem (like medical) that requires you to return to Canada, my recommendation is that you apply for and take out US citizenship BEFORE you return to Canada. If you are selling into or doing business in the US, you will need it to keep on working for your LLC in the US. My files are full of people who gave up their green card to come to the "more peaceful" Canada and then found it almost impossible to return to the USA. Your husband's PR card should be valid because he is out of the country with a Canadian. My charge for a consultation by phone is $375.00 Cdn per hour. 90% of phone consultation calls are concluded for that price. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.centa.com/CEN-TAPEDE/centapede/attachments/20050619/dc10277d/attachment.htm
