I am leaving Canada and moving back to the UK. I have money in my RRSP sufficient for a small deposit on a house in the UK, so I plan to collapse the whole RRSP.

I know about the withholding tax, but my concern is the total amount of tax I would pay on the withdrawal. (The withholding tax is a fixed percentage, dependent only on the amount withdrawn, whereas I assume the final or total tax on the withdrawal depends on income and other variables.)

Here is my question:
Would withdrawing before or after leaving make any difference to the total amount of tax I would pay on the RRSP withdrawal?

(I searched the forum, but could not find an answer to this specific question.)