Hi All.

All set to move now in Feb. Visa's arrived this weekend so final hurdle over.
I just need a bit of advice on two finance queries.
1) I have a small pension due in Feb as I took early retirement at 50. Is it best to have it paid straight into a Canadian Bank account or leave it to go into a Uk one and transfer it over in small chunks every say six months?
2) We have sold our house and are now checking on the exchange rate which seems to be rising at present. Is it best to transfer all our dosh over in one go or do you have a time limit in which to move money over. I know if you left it here you would have to declare the interest on it to the Canadian tax authorities but are there any other rules/regulations I should know about?

Can anyone advise me what to do or point me in the right direction if this has been touched on before.

Many Thanks.

Also - anyone know if a DAB radio can be used in Canada?

Annie

Congratulations on your visas arriving.

Re DAB radio, you might want to see the links I received when posted the same question in 'The Lab'. I am going to NS so don't really hold out much hope - I'll have to sell our new radio.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=408666

If the pension is, as you say, a small amount, why bother transferring it? If you keep your UK bank account open, you can withdraw cash from machines here. Or you can use a UK visa card and pay the bills from your UK account via internet banking. I do both of those.

By the way, I think that the Canadian tax people will be interested in more than just the, er, interest. Pension=income=taxable.

I don't know the tax agreement the UK has with Canada but am assuming it is similar to the one with the US and Canada.

My husband's Canadian pension is tax paid in Canada and we have to declare it as income in the US. That includes any interest in his interesting bearing account as well. But because the amount allowed US tax free is $80,000 on earned income outside of the US that tax has already been paid to the Canadian government, we just indicate in on the US tax form and then write it off.

Also because he paid Canadian taxes on his capital gains when selling his home, he did not have to include that for additional taxes in the US. Of course, the capital gain was well below the $80,000 even with his pension added in.

A more important point for Annie to consider might be the possibility of having the pension deferred, particularly if she is going to continue working.

Hi,

Many thanks for your replies.

Annie

Re your money from your house sale, we are going to transfer our money into a sterling account with HSBC Abbottsford, this will give us time to ride with the upward going market at the moment and trans into C$ when we are ready. I don't know if other banks in canada have sterling accounts, perhaps someone else might know that answer.

Sue

Re the tax treaty.
The UK/Canada treaty requires you to pay tax on your income, including pensions, in your country of residence. So leaving it in a UK bank will violate the tax laws unless you declare it in Canada. This means you have to arrange the tax exemption in UK, but I do not think you can do that and leave it in a UK bank. I have a government pension from the UK and I had to provide proof of tax declaration in canada before the UK would exempt the tax deduction in the UK, they also check up on you from time to time so beware.

Go to Switzerland for a vacation and open up a bank account there. These days the amounts needed are quite small

Hi Sue,

Thanks for your reply. I never thought about opening a sterling account,
We are checking on Xe at the moment and the rate is rising slowly,
Hopefully it will continue to rise a little bit more,

Annie

Remember that British citizens (plus many others) are still entitled to a UK personal allowance on UK income, even if resident in Canada.

It won't affect Canadian tax due, but will limit UK liability. Also remember there is a double tax treaty to prevent the same income being taxed twice.

We've had the same predicament with proceeds made from a house sale. As we are going to rent in Canada (for the first year at least), we're going to bung the cash in a UK savings account. Alliance and Leicester are offering 5.38% at the moment )