Naryamente

Hiya...

The missus and I leaving this Goat Rodeo behind.

Can anyone point in me in the direction of an accountant who might know a thing or two about leaving.

Particularly...
RRSP repayment / selling house / self employment / bank accounts

Ta like.

JonboyE

Any funds you withdraw from your RRSP are treated as taxable income.

See wiki.

You will need to calculate your income from self-employment up to the day you leave Canada and include it on your Canadian tax return for the year.

I assume that one of your tax objectives is to become non-resident for tax purposes on the day you leave Canada (so the Canadian Government has no claim on any income you earn after you have left).

Whilst there is no impediment to retaining bank accounts in Canada after you have left, if you operate them on a day-to-day basis they give the CRA a chance to argue that you have not permanently relinquished your residential ties with Canada, and so are still tax resident here.

I recommend that you close all of your banks accounts/credit card accounts etc except one that you leave open to pay your final expenses like tax due on your 2008 income. Once all these expenses are paid thais account should also be closed.

Judy in Calgary

Your post contained great advice, as usual, JonboyE.

I just want to add that, if you leave money behind in an RRSP when you leave Canada, different countries treat the interest and dividend earnings in your RRSP differently.

While we were out of Canada for 4 years, the USA recognized the tax-protected status of our Canadian RRSPs. Australia also recognized the tax-protected status of our RRSPs for the 2.5 years that we were there. But, had we stayed on for 5 years, Australia no longer would have recognized the tax-protected status of our RRSPs.

I don't know how the UK treats RRSPs.
x

Naryamente

I'm happy to pay the tax on the money I "borrowed" from myself - keep it simple.

I've heard stories about people closing bank accounts here and the banks were being very funny about it. It sounded difficult for one reason or another. Funny thing is, I'll have left the country before the OH, as she is selling our house while I'm on the road. Technically, *I* will have no home for a bit. (but I imagine I can pretend to be living in Canada to make my tax life simpler until we have a UK address.)

What I'd quite like to do is set up a UK bank account even now. I'm still (sort of) a resident.

Calgal

You might find these links useful:

http://www.advisor.ca/freezone_nolog...12_000000_0001

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/nonresi...aving-e.html#d

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