QUESTION:
How does taxation work if I live in Scotland? I'm moving there next year on a UK Ancestry Visa and may stay up to 5 years. Do I do taxes in both countries? What are my exemptions, if any?
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david ingram replies:
You will need to file a departing Canada income tax return. This will involve showing the date of departure on the front of your T1 and pro-rating your exemptions on schedule 1 and 428. You will file form T1161 and maybe 1243 and 1244 with that return. If you have nothing to report on the T1161, you should file it and say so.
Great Britain has a tax return but most people do not fill it in unless they have investment or self-employed income. Otherwise, the tax is calculated by your employer's HR people and deducted from your wages.
If you have Canadian dividends or interest or rents, you will pay tax to Canada first an dthe UK second and claim a Foreign tax credit on the UK form.
ARTICLE IV of the UK / Canda Tax Convention governs where you pay your tax and gores as follows:
Article 4
Fiscal Domicile
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "resident of a Contracting State" means any person who, under the law of that State, is liable to taxation therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management or any other criterion of a similar nature. But this term does not include any person who is liable to tax in that Contracting State in respect only of income from sources therein.
2. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined as follows:
(a) he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has a permanent home available to him. If he has a permanent home available to him in both Contracting States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests);
(b) if the Contracting State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either Contracting State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has an habitual abode;
(c) if he has an habitual abode in both Contracting States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State of which he is a national;
(d) if he is a national of both Contracting States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.
3. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall by mutual agreement endeavour to settle the question and to determine the mode of application of the Convention to such person.
If you have left money on deposit in Canada, interest is taxed in Canada as follows in Article XI
Article 11
Interest
1. Interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
2. However, such interest may be taxed in the Contracting State in which it arises, and according to the law of that State; but if the recipient is the beneficial owner of the interest, the tax so charged shall not exceed 10 per cent of the gross amount of the interest.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article:
(a) interest arising in the United Kingdom and paid to a resident of Canada shall be taxable only in Canada if it is paid in respect of a loan made, guaranteed or insured, or a credit extended, guaranteed or insured by the Export Development Corporation; and
(b) interest arising in Canada and paid to a resident of the United Kingdom shall be taxable only in the United Kingdom if it is paid in respect of a loan made, guaranteed or insured, or a credit extended, guaranteed or insured by the United Kingdom Export Credits Guarantee Department.
4. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article, interest arising in Canada and paid in respect of a bond, debenture or other similar obligation of the Government of Canada or of a political subdivision or local authority thereof shall, provided that the interest is beneficially owned by a resident of the United Kingdom, be taxable only in the United Kingdom;
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 29 Canada may, on or before the thirtieth day of June in any calendar year give to the United Kingdom notice of termination of this paragraph and in such event this paragraph shall cease to have effect in respect of interest paid on obligations issued after 31 December of the calendar year in which the notice is given.
5. The term "interest" as used in this Article means income from debt-claims of every kind, whether or not secured by mortgage, and whether or not carrying a right to participate in the debtor's profits, and in particular, income from government securities and income from bonds or debentures, including premiums and prizes attaching to bonds or debentures, as well as income assimilated to income from money lent by the taxation law of the State in which the income arises. However, the term "interest" does not include income dealt with in Article 10.
6. The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of this Article shall not apply if the recipient of the interest, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State in which the interest arises through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State professional services from a fixed base situated therein, and the debt-claim in respect of which the interest is paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.
7. Interest shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that State itself, a political subdivision, a local authority or a resident of that State. Where, however, the person paying the interest, whether he is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment in connection with which the indebtedness on which the interest is paid was incurred, and that interest is borne by that permanent establishment, then such interest shall be deemed to arise in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment is situated.
8. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the person deriving the interest or between both of them and some other person, the amount of interest paid exceeds for whatever reason the amount which would have been paid in the absence of such relationship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In that case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.
9. Any provision in the law of a Contracting State relating only to interest paid to a non-resident company shall not operate so as to require such interest paid to a company which is a resident of the other Contracting State to be treated as a distribution of the company paying such interest. The preceding sentence shall not apply to interest paid to a company which is a resident of a Contracting State in which more than 50 per cent of the voting power is controlled, directly or indirectly, by a person or persons resident in the other Contracting State.
10. The provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article shall not apply to interest where the beneficial owner of the interest-
(a) does not bear tax in respect thereof in Canada; and
(b) sells (or makes a contract to sell) the holding from which the interest is derived within three months of the date on which such beneficial owner acquired that holding.
If you have left dividend bearing stock or mutual funds in Canada, the dividends are taxed as follows in Article X
Article 10
Dividends
1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of Canada to a resident of the United Kingdom may be taxed in the United Kingdom. Such dividends may also be taxed in Canada, and according to the laws of Canada, but provided that the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the United Kingdom the tax so charged shall not exceed:
(a) 10 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends if the recipient is a company which controls, directly or indirectly, at least 10 per cent of the voting power in the company paying the dividends;
(b) 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.
2. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of the United Kingdom to a resident of Canada may be taxed in Canada. Such dividends may also be taxed in the United Kingdom, and according to the laws of the United Kingdom, but provided that the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of Canada the tax so charged shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends.
3. However, as long as an individual resident in the United Kingdom is entitled to a tax credit in respect of dividends paid by a company resident in the United Kingdom, the following provisions of this paragraph shall apply instead of the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article:
(a) (i) Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of the United Kingdom to a resident of Canada may be taxed in Canada.
(ii) Where a resident of Canada is entitled to a tax credit in respect of such a dividend under sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph, tax may also be charged in the United Kingdom and according to the laws of the United Kingdom, on the aggregate of the amount or value of that dividend and the amount of that tax credit at a rate not exceeding 15 per cent.
(iii) Where a resident of Canada is entitled to a tax credit in respect of such a dividend under sub-paragraph (c) of this paragraph, tax may also be charged in the United Kingdom and according to the laws of the United Kingdom, on the aggregate of the amount or value of that dividend and the amount of that tax credit at a rate not exceeding 10 per cent.
(iv) Except as provided in sub-paragraphs (a)(ii) and (a)(iii) of this paragraph, dividends paid by a company which is a resident of the United Kingdom to a resident of Canada who is the beneficial owner of those dividends shall be exempt from any tax which is chargeable in the United Kingdom on dividends.
(b) A resident of Canada who receives a dividend from a company which is a resident of the United Kingdom shall, subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (c) of this paragraph and provided he is the beneficial owner of the dividend, be entitled to the tax credit in respect thereof to which an individual resident in the United Kingdom would have been entitled had he received that dividend, and to the payment of any excess of such credit over his liability to United Kingdom tax.
(c) The provisions of sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph shall not apply where the beneficial owner of the dividend is, or is associated with, a company which, either alone or together with one or more associated companies, controls, directly or indirectly, at least 10 per cent of the voting power in the company paying the dividend. In these circumstances a company which is a resident of Canada and receives a dividend from a company which is a resident of the United Kingdom shall, provided it is the beneficial owner of the dividend, be entitled to a tax credit equal to one-half of the tax credit to which an individual resident in the United Kingdom would have been entitled had he received that dividend, and to the payment of any excess of such credit over its liability to United Kingdom tax. For the purposes of this sub-paragraph, two companies shall be deemed to be associated if one controls, directly or indirectly, more than 50 per cent of the voting power in the other company, or a third company controls more than 50 per cent of the voting power in both of them.
4. The term "dividends" as used in this Article means income from shares, "jouissance" shares or "jouissance" rights, mining shares, founders' shares or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in profits, as well as income assimilated to or treated in the same way as income from shares by the taxation law of the State of which the company making the payment is a resident.
5. The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not apply if the recipient of the dividends, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State professional services from a fixed base situated therein, and the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.
6. Where a company is a resident of only one Contracting State, the other Contracting State may not impose any tax on the dividends paid by the company, except insofar as such dividends are paid to a resident of that other State or insofar as the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with a permanent establishment or a fixed base situated in that other State, nor subject the company's undistributed profits to a tax on undistributed profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.
7. If a resident of Canada does not bear Canadian tax on dividends derived from a company which is a resident of the United Kingdom and owns 10 per cent or more of the class of shares in respect of which the dividends are paid, then neither paragraph 2 nor 3 shall apply to the dividends to the extent that they can have been paid only out of profits which the company paying the dividends earned or other income which it received in a period ending twelve months or more before the relevant date. For the purposes of this paragraph the term "relevant date" means the date on which the beneficial owner of the dividends became the owner of 10 per cent or more of the class of shares referred to above.
Provided that this paragraph shall not apply if the shares were acquired for bona fide commercial reasons and not primarily for the purpose of securing the benefit of this Article.
Rents are taxed in Canada by filling in form T1159 and 776 which is a Tax return filed under Section 216(4).
So, Canada taxes:
* interest is taxed at 10%
* dividends at 15%
* rents at 23 to 44% - most likley 23%
The UK will tax you at their marginal rates and give credit for the tax paid to Canada. �
