Hello!

I am a UK citizen and I've been living in Canada for about 7 yeaes. Hoping to move back to the UK in a few years time.

I own a house in the UK which i owned before i moved to Canada and understand I will have to pay a departure tax on the capital gains accrued over the time ive been in canada.

I think this will amount to about 15k.

A few questions:

I understand in some circumstances i can defer payment until I sell the house in the UK. When i do sell, will I have to pay capital gains tax in the UK and Canada?

What if i never sell? Can i defer payment of the departure tax indefinately? Does interest accrue on the amount owing?

What if i owe over the amount where you can defer payment without offering some sort of security? What sort of security can i actually offer? Can i just pay the amount owning over the amount where a security doesnt apply?

Thanks for any guidance !

I can’t answer your question and I’m thinking you may have more luck in the moving back/to the UK forum

Where have you read that you pay Canadian tax on to property??

It’s called deemed disposition https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...-property.html

Doesn't this cover it in exceptions??

1. property you owned when you last became a resident of Canada (or property you inherited afterward) if you were an individual who was a resident of Canada for 60 months or less during the 10-year period before you emigrated and you are not a trust

Also are you an emigrant from Canada if you weren't from there in the first place and are returning to your original country??

In our situation, we were in Canada for more than 60 months, so the exception unfortunately doesn’t apply. Seems to be the same for the OP.

So "before you emigrated" here refers to leaving Canada and not emigrating to Canada

PS I hadn't realised that you're left.

We left four months ago - I’ll message you later!

If you never sell then no tax is due. You only pay capital gains tax when the gain is realised. In the UK, capital gains is wiped out on death but the property will become part of your estate if you pass it on to anyone other than your spouse.