Posidrive

Oops, didn't mean to imply ...... The general impression that I get about many professions in Canada is that if they don't know something they just take the safe option without bothering to find out the real facts. Since the seller would be responsible for the tax if it turned out that you weren't resident I suppose that they just played lazy but safe.

sans

We had never come across so many carn't be bothereds before It drove me mad .........If it wasn't in front of them, they just didn't want to know....

Even down to OH's first tax return...because H Block couldn't do it on line, they past us on to someone else who made 3 appointments to sort it and didn't bother to turn up 3 times
Liberty tax did it, in the end by hand

I hope for others sakes, that i was told wrong about the the non PR's....But we had to prove we had Permanent residency before they would release our funds....

woodywoodside

We are just about to close on our property and we had to show our pr cards.

sans

Posidrive

A PR card is no more proof of you being resident in Canada for tax purposes than a TWP so what the international tax of Revenue Canada told me still stands.

sans

They dont ask for it as proof that you are resident in Canada.......Its to prove you have Permenant residency status in Canada.....And the TWP is a temporary work permit.......I think your missing the point.

If you sell a house in Canada and you are resident in that house at the time of sale...if you have PR you wont pay the tax.......If you are a tempoary resident eg TWP you will still pay the tax.
So when you complete your house sale they check whether you are a PR or you are on a tempoary permit.

shelley748

check this out re residency please:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts.../nnrs-eng.html

and this one for Leaving Canada and your obligations:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts.../lvng-eng.html

the 2nd link has a whole section there on disposing of CDN property.

shelley748

It has nothing to do with whether you are a PR or not, its how many days you have lived in Canada in a tax year, see my links above

sans

I can only relay what happened with us and this is what we was told, by our Notory.....

shelley748

wel I would talk to CCRA direct, rather than some notary who is not an expert in tax matters!!! Seriously, you could be heading up for a big fall.

sans

I hardly think so.....Its of know concern to us anymore, we left Canada 9 mths ago....After selling up and coming back to the Uk....

And this is what i base what i have said on and not a telephone conversation, nor a website.

Posidrive

The conversations that I had with the CRA international tax office in Ontario was quite enlightening. I first spoke to one of the telephone agents who thought that TWP holders could be classified as resident and was then passed onto his supervisor who confirmed that a TWP holder could be classified as resident. As Shelley stated, the only issue is residency and not the actual type of residency. The CRA bulletins that Shelley posted are quite clear about the determination of your residency for tax purposes and in fact show that it would be damn difficult to proove that you were non resident for tax purposes once you have set foot in Canada and started paying tax unless you have been in Canada for less than 6 months.

Interestingly, both tax agents stated that when determining residency status for tax purposes, Canadian citizens and Permanent resident are in the same boat as TWP holders. Profering a PR card prooves nothing since you can have a valid PR card and not yet be resident for tax purposes. Take the case selling your property in the UK then landing to get your PR card. You could spend a few days in Canada, buy a house, then fly back to the UK and live in temporary accomodation. If you sold the house you would be liable to the withholding tax because you would not be resident for tax purposes even if the house was the only one that you owned and you would hope to claim it as your primary residence.

Now of course the issue of contion here appears to be notaries and whether or not they are competent. It should be quite easy to proove resdence by showng the TWP and proof of actual employment and tax paid in Canada. Also, surely showing a valid Canadian driving license should help since you have to be resident in Canada to have one. Relinquishing your UK driving license also addes to the weight of eveidence that you have relinquished any ties with the UK

I think that we will try to get a letter from the CRA stating that we are resident for tax purposes. But at the end of the day if the we eventually get a purchaser and the notary tries to withold any funds either (a) the sale is off or (b) we will be taking legal action agianst them with regard to them illegally witholding the funds.

woodywoodside

This issue is just so confusing and at the end of the day it is what the buyers lawyer thinks that counts. Just save all the hassle and stay in your house until its sold.

sans

I genuinly hope you are right for your sakes and we was given the wrong information by our Notory.......Even tho she takes her instruction from the tax office on what needs to be settled out of your money, before you recieve it ............And in our case we didn't recieve our funds until the day after completion.......

g_is_for_canada

Yep Canada has all the taxes of any other country with few of the benefits. Consider it a final token of goodwill from this high taxation loonie left country. Hopefully you've moved to somewhere more sensible about such matters.