My_question_is: Applicable-to-Mexico

question:

I have dual citizenship but born in Mexico. After 10 years in Canada I have decided to move back to Mexico. I own an apartment in Vancouver which I bought six years ago and have some equity on it (still paying for it). I would not like to get rid off it yet in case I cannot get used to life in Mexico again.

I will most likely just leave my RRSPs here but close all other accounts.

For tax purposes, will the Canadian government treat me as a non-resident as I am going back to the country that I came from? As it is my principal residence, would it make more sense to sell it and take the cash to avoid paying capital gains?

Is there anything else you would recommend, tax related, for someone going back to his own country?

Thanks

Hi David,

I’m a US citizen who had a Canadian work visa and lived/worked in Montreal for 15 months in 2005/2006. I filed both Canadian and US taxes as required. I moved back to the US in 2006 thinking all was well and good. I got rid of all my Canadian accounts and records thinking they weren’t going to be ever necessary. I now received this letter. I would like to just ignore it, but I’m not sure of the consequences of that. I do have to travel to Canada almost every month and I’m now worried I’m going to be thrown in jail when I next return.

My questions are:

1.     1.   What are the consequences of ignoring this?

2.      2.  What can they do to me when I travel to Canada?

3.      3.  I paid into the Canadian retirement service, is that money totally lost to me? Can I argue that they are going to get that money and I’ll never see it?

I fear that trying to straighten this out with the Canadian tax service is going to be really hard and stressful.

Thanks,

Below is the result of your feedback form.  It was submitted by
XXXXXXX on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 16:30:28
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My_question_is: Both

question: 

I am confused on how the CRA determines residency.  My husband re-located to the USA 10 years ago.  

I have an apartment that I still own in only my name.  I did not move permanently to the states with my husband.  

I stayed in Canada to help my mother who is ill.  I was living in Canada with my mother and rented my apartment out.  

I went back and forth between my family in the USA and my mother in Canada over the last 10 years.  

I was in Canada more than the USA.  I did not work.  

In 2007 I had my accountant file my taxes in Canada for the years 1999-2000 even though I had no income.  

I get a letter from the CRA in Jan 2010 that I owe 4,000.  I contacted my accountant right away, he did not know anything about this. 

I told him when I call the CRA they told me they contacted my accountant's offic in 2007 and advised another accountant in the office

that I had no taxes due from the returns sent in for those years but that due to the accountant filing the 216 return l ate for the years 1999-2005. 

I owed non-resident tax arrears and that although they reversed any taxes due,as my apartment ran at a loss every year. I owed interest on the 
money that I could have owed??  

No one contacted me, the CRA also said they had returned mail from me...weird because I have gotten every other letter to date, including all my 
returns from those years filed with a 'nil' amount due.  

My accountant suggested I write the CRA and ask to forgive this amount as there was never any taxes due in the first place.  

I am not sure what the outcome will be.  I argued my residency point with the CRA a few years ago and they wrote me a letter stating they are 
now considering me a resident from 1999 - 2005?  I had lived in my apartment in 2005.  

I am living in my apartment now and due to all my renters, am having to basically gut it and plan to sell it.  Where do I fit in with capital gains.  

I believe I am and have always been a resident of Canada.  I am told I will have to pay the 50% of the difference from when I bought in 1999  to 
when I sell in 2010 and then 25% cap gains tax...is this right!  

Sorry for blabbing on and on, with my husband's business closing in the US and having to start over again at our age ..it is frustrating to have 
to give our hard working nest egg to the government.  Anyway, I hope I get picked by your experts to know where I stand with the CRA.

Thanks for reading!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is the result of your feedback form.  It was submitted by
xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 08:06:17
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My_question_is: Both

question: Hello, I'm currently a green card holder living in the US. I have been living here since 1999 

and have no plans of moving back to Canada. I have money in a few RRSP's and was wondering if it was possible 

to roll the RRSP's into a 401k and what the penalties might be if any. 

Thanks for your help. 

xxxxx

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Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by

xxxx xxxxxxxxx on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 14:05:43
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My_question_is: Both

question: Dear Mr Ingram

I tried to watch your Around the World online live Video Cast April 21, but it did not seem to be available. My question about inherited real estate follows; I hope you find it interesting.


I am a Canadian who got a job in the US and became a US citizen. Currently I am unemployed.

In 2004 my mother died and willed me a condo in BC. I want to sell the condo because rentals are not permitted. In 2004 it was assessed at $114,000. It has been vacant since, and some of her personal belongings are still there. Fortunately, by 2010 the assessment has risen to $262,000

It has been inactive because my brother is the executor, and he did not file for probate until 2009. (We are on good terms.) So far, title to the condo has been transferred to the estate. There is a 2% hit with every transfer. The next step is to transfer title to myself, but I want your advice first.

I studied your archives. One of your replies was "If you own and live in another house, and mother's house was not rented out after her death, you have a choice of claiming mother's house tax free for the time from her death until you sold it or your own house tax free for the same time period." However, I am not sure it applies to a non-resident like myself.

So here are my question:

1) since the condo was neither rented, nor occupied by anyone but my mother, is it subject to Capital Gains tax?

2) is the cost basis taken at the date of death, or the date title is transferred?

3) how do I calculate my tax liability?


Thanks in advance.

  

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by

x xxxxx on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 10:59:39
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My_question_is: Both

question: Hi,
I am a Canadian Permanent Resident who moved to the US at the end of December 2008.
I did not declare myself non-resident in Canada at the time of the move because at that time I was not sure if I would move back to Canada and didn't want to jeopardize my Canadian PR status.  Aside from a W2 with a couple of thousand dollars and a couple of interest payments I had no other Canadian derived income in 2009.  I spent less than 20 days in Canada during 2009.
In April 2010 I received my US permanent residence card and I have concluded that I will not be moving back to Canada.
I have filed a 1040 for 2009 in the US which discloses all income, including that paid to me from Canadian sources.  I have also filed FBARs for all non US accounts.
The question is, what do I file in Canada for 2009 and how do I go about adjusting my status to Non-Resident?
One possible complication - in September 2009 we sold our Condo in Canada and converted those funds into US dollars to facilitate the purchase of our new primary residence in the USA.  Not sure if this has a bearing on anything.  Since at that time we were not sure if we would be moving back to Canada, there was no withholding placed on the proceeds of the sale of the condo, our principal residence , at that time.
Thanks in advance for your response.


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xxxx xxxxxx wrote:

Mr. Ingram,

Your knowledge is truly remarkable. I am hoping you can advise me during this most busy time of yours.

I am a xxxxxxxxxxxx born immigrant who has lived in the U.S. since 1986 (when I was seven).

Until 1990, my mother and I were dependents on my father's F-1 student visas.

Then we became dependents on his H-1 visa

In 1997, I split off to my own F-1 Visa to attend college (and work on campus)

In 2000, my parents finally became U.S. Permanent Residents; however, since I was over the age, I did not benefit and was left stranded on my F-1.

Since 2001, after my graduation, I have been working in Detroit on my own H1.

After much painstaking effort to get cooperation from my employer, I got my labor certification approved on 30 DEC 05 and I became eligible to file for Adjustment of Status in June of 2007 and did so (receipted 06 SEP 07).

Then came a backlog (expected) and another (less expected).

Becoming somewhat disillusioned with the  US process and having befriended many in Detroit's cross-border city of Windsor (Ontario, Canada), I put in an application to become a Permanent Resident of Canada as well. At the same time, I fell in love with a xxxxxxxx student studying xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx.

We got married on January 19th, 2009 after living together for some time at the University of Michigan housing. Shortly thereafter, I was already granted the Permanent Residence in Canada and landed at the address of one my very close Canadian friends. For 2009, I have been back and forth between my friend's Canadian address and my wife's dorm for married students.

Now, on to the tax stuff: I am truly in no-man's-land.

There is no way I am willing give-up my primary tax liability to the U.S. I have been paying into US Social Security and Medicare for nine years and have every intention of continuing to do so in pursuit of U.S. Permanent Residence.

Having the Canadian PR, I could have theoretically walked away from the U.S. PR if it were just me, but now I have my wife to consider.

She is a xxxxxxxx citizen at U Mich on an F-1 and she never applied to be a Canadian PR. I need to continue to carry my health insurance in the US to cover her and, when my "Priority Date" becomes current, we need to file her Adjustment of Status for the U.S. PR as well.

I am interested in pursuing Canadian Citizenship, though, or at least retain the PR "in case the U.S. PR NEVER works out." Also, I really like it in both Detroit and Windsor. And it reminds my wife of Europe to be able to cross borders on a nearly daily basis.

Would there be any violation in simply (albeit at great cost) filing in Canada as well assuming primary liability in here as well?

If it is allowed, do I simply report the U.S. income and not ask for any tax credit (neither here nor in the U.S.)?

Do I send a copy of U.S. return?

          If so, is it a problem that the income will show as W-2 instead of 1099?