I'm leaving Canada with my family next year. I have a year to plan. Does anyone know if I can:
- transfer my CPP to the UK
- transfer my RRSP
- transfer my kids RESP

Any advice at this time will be very welcome.

Hi,

I don't think you can transfer your CPP to the UK, but you can still claim it and
receive your CPP payments in the UK.
If you cash your RRSP's you will automatically be charged 25pct tax. Alternatively, you can leave your RRSP's in Canada and draw down on them at retirement when you may be in a lower tax bracket.

All of the options will be subject to the exchange rate of the day, so hard to say which option is best.
Sorry, but I don't know anything about RESP's.

Just started to explore these issues, so if I find out anything else I'll let you know.

Hope this helps.

I would suggest the answer is NO to all three and that interest earned on RRSP/RESP should probably be reported as income to the UK Tax authorities.

Does it count as "income" if you are legally unable to access it? It doesn't make sense if it's taxed as it grows, and then taxed again when you draw an income from it.

From a Canada point of view, a form NR-73 needs to be filed to establish non-residence and this may lead to a deemed disposal (for capital gains purposes) of assets.

One can easily access both and it's not taxed as it grows. It's taxed upon redemption.

I think you can pay a departure tax on capital gains / RRSP / RESP and transfer them out of country. Consult a tax accountant -- best bet.

Thanks everyone. That was really helpful. I'll speak to my accountant too and let you know if I find out any new info.

There is a deemed disposition of all your capital assets when you become non-resident so the Canadian Government gets to tax the capital gain that accrued while you were here. There are quite a number of exemptions including principal residence, taxable Canadian property, anything you owned before moving to Canada if your stay here was less than five years, and funds in an RRSP.

With regards to the RRSP I am not aware of any provision to export these funds to a British pension scheme tax free. There are three options I am aware of:

1 Withdraw funds from the RRSP before you leave Canada. You will be taxed on the whole amount of the withdrawal at your marginal rate.

2 Leave the funds in the RRSP and withdraw them when you are back in the UK. You will incur a non-resident withholding tax of 25% but you may be able to offset this against any UK tax payable on this income.

3 Leave the funds until retirement and use them to pay you a pension. Under the tax treaty pension payments are only taxable in the country where you live.

For the RESP I believe you have two choices:

1 You collapse the plan and have your contributions returned tax-free. You don't get to keep the government contributions or any investment gains.

2 Leave the plan in place. The Beneficiary must be a Canadian resident when named the beneficiary. I can't see anything that says they have to be a Canadian resident when they receive payment from the RESP. However, they would be subject to 25% non-resident withholding tax which they may, or may not, be able to recover from HMRC.

CPP contributions remain in Canada and you will get a pension based on your contributions that can be paid anywhere in the world. You might also get some OAS:

Scenario 2 - People living outside Canada

You must be 65 years of age or older.
You must have been a Canadian citizen or a legal resident of Canada the day before you left Canada.
You must have lived in Canada for at least 20 years after turning 18.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. It was really helpful.

Hi Jonboy ... very informative post ... can i ask,we are moving away from Canada and have just sold our house,this was our only residence in Canada as so is our principle residence ... we have only owned the house for 11 months and made a gain ... friends are now telling us the we will have to pay capital gains tax on the gain as we have not owned the property for a full year .. i have checked many tax sites but can't see that they are right ... do you have any knowledge of this ? cheers.

No CGT on principal residence. If you have not already done so, make sure you complete the transaction prior to leaving Canada.

Hi,yes we will be completing the sale a few days before ... is that ok ?

As far as I know, you'll be good as you will be leaving with cash.

You may want to look at this and the rules regarding departure and assets.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts.../lvng-eng.html
http://www.americanlaw.com/ustxperm.html

Many thanks for the info and sites ......

Just wondering if anyone has had problems sending a lump of money overseas once the house sale is completed and the cash is in your bank account ... are there any limits too sums that you can send abroad ? cheers.