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Moving to the U.S. from Canada

Moving from Canada to the U.S.: Essential Tips and Information

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The upcoming U.S. presidential election in November has led to much media focus on U.S. citizens looking to move to Canada. So much, in fact, that we prepared an article a few months back entitled, Thinking About Moving to Canada? What You Need to Know.

As one moves from Canada to the United States or vice versa, a multitude of unique lifestyle, immigration, financial, tax and estate planning issues must be considered. Ideally, it is best to plan or be aware of these considerations prior to the move, not afterward. In this article, we will discuss some of the financial and income-tax implications you should be aware of when moving from Canada to the United States.

Residency for Canadian Income-Tax Purposes

Unlike the United States, Canada does not impose its income tax system based on Canadian citizenship. Income tax in Canada is based on residency—and thus it’s important to understand how residency is determined.

Residents of Canada are liable to pay Canadian income tax on their worldwide income. Non- residents of Canada, meanwhile, are liable to pay Canadian tax only on income from employment in Canada, as well as rents, royalties, interest and dividends. They must also pay Canadian tax on income from sources in Canada including a business that carries on in Canada (while the recipient is a non-resident) and income from the disposition of taxable Canadian property.

To further complicate matters, the term “resident” is not directly defined in the Canadian Income Tax Act. Rather, it is based on common-law principles and is related to the kind and types of residential ties that one has or maintains in Canada.

To better understand how the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) might view residency from a Canadian income tax perspective, you might want to review CRA Income Tax Folio S5-F1-C1: Determining an Individual’s Residence Status.

Whether your residential ties in Canada are sufficient for you to be considered a resident for tax purposes is generally a question of fact. Some of the factors that CRA would likely take into consideration include:

  • Do you have a permanent home available to you in Canada?
  • Does your family live in Canada? In this case, “family” typically refers to a spouse and/or children.
  • Where are your social and personal ties, such as church, social clubs, professional organizations and so on?
  • Where are your economic ties, such as employment or business operations, bank accounts, driver’s license, etc.?
  • Have you established residential ties to another country, and are you resident in that country for tax purposes?
  • Do you intend to return to Canada at a later date?

When we work with clients to properly document their intention to sever their residency from Canada, we recommend that they take the following actions:

  • Consolidate your bank accounts by closing all unnecessary accounts and transferring all or a substantial portion of funds to a bank account in the United States. Once established in the United States and all cheques have cleared against the Canadian accounts, transfer the balances and close all Canadian accounts.
  • Close your Canadian non-registered brokerage accounts and transfer the investments to a U.S. account, or liquidate if necessary. Given that Cardinal Point Wealth Management is licensed and registered in both Canada and the United States for investment management purposes, we can create much value for our clients in this area, including maintaining Canadian-dollar investment accounts in the United States.
  • Advise all Canadian financial institutions with which you will have ongoing dealings of your move to the United States. They will begin to withhold non-resident tax from any investment income earned by you outside of your registered assets. The tax withheld under the Canada-U.S. Tax Treaty (0% for interest, 15% for dividends) represents your final Canadian tax obligation with respect to this income, and a Canadian tax return is not required to be filed to report this income. The same would apply to Canadian-source pensions (excluding Canada Pension Plan and/or Old Age Security).
  • Apply for a driver’s license in the United States as soon as possible, and then cancel your Canadian license.
  • Cancel or change your professional memberships to non-resident status. Cancel your memberships to clubs and other organizations. An individual can retain membership in any professional organization on the basis that he is required to perform duties abroad without significantly impacting non-residency status. However, one should arrange for the membership status to be designated “non-resident” if possible.
  • Sell or dispose of all personal possessions not accompanying you abroad. Where possible, it is preferable to avoid storing items in Canada, as the maintenance of personal property may be an indication that residency was not terminated.
  • Cancel your credit cards with Canadian financial institutions and obtain cards with U.S. institutions.
  • Terminate your Canadian healthcare and medical-insurance coverage.
  • Maintain a personal file outlining your efforts to cease Canadian residency. The determination of residency status is not straightforward, and although one may have a strong fact pattern, CRA can always assert that individual facts and circumstances do not support the contention that you have ceased residency from Canada. A personal file containing this information may be vital in demonstrating to CRA that you have sufficiently severed your ties with Canada.

CRA uses a questionnaire, Form NR73 Determination of Residency Status (leaving Canada) to establish an individual’s residency status. However, we recommend that clients not voluntarily submit this form to CRA. Once submitted, it can be difficult to change filing positions in Canada.

The Canadian Departure Tax

Upon departure from Canada, Canadian residents are generally considered to have disposed of most property, with exceptions as noted below, for deemed proceeds equal to the fair-market value of the property at that time. If the fair-market value of the property exceeds its cost base for income tax purposes, the individual must recognize a capital gain that is taxable in Canada on their final exiting Canadian tax return. You have the option of paying the tax on those gains, from the deemed disposal, when you file your tax return for the year you leave Canada. Or you can provide security (if required) to CRA, to defer payment until the property is sold.

Canadian real estate, stock options, certain employer-sponsored pension plans Registered Assets (RRSPs, RRSPs, LIRAs, etc.) and TFSAs will not be subject to the departure tax, as there are specific exclusions in the rules for these types of assets.

For the most part, non-registered investment assets, including shares within Canadian business interests and certain trusts, would be considered deemed sold as of your departure from Canada.

A requirement to file CRA Information Forms T1161 – List of Properties by an Emigrant of Canada and T1243 – Deemed Disposition of Property by an Emigrant of Canada would need to be included with your final return to CRA for the year of departure. Depending on the fair-market value of assets upon departure and/or the amount of deemed gains, these forms, and the requisite tax (or the posting of adequate security), might not be required.

We assist all of our clients in obtaining the necessary documentation to support the fair-market value of all of their assets on the date they cease residency for reference purposes. It is generally easier to gather this information at the time of their departure as opposed to when we are preparing their Canadian tax returns for the year of departure.

U.S. Income-Tax Considerations

The United States does not have a deemed-acquisition valuation when an individual enters the country for tax purposes. For this reason, an individual who sells appreciated property after entering the United States is subject to tax on the whole gain, not just the portion attributable to the period of residence in the United States. This can result in double taxation, first the Canadian departure tax and then U.S. capital-gains tax upon the sale of the assets while in the United States.

Because of this, we generally recommend that clients physically “trigger” any actual capital gains prior to exiting Canada, or take a specific Tax Treaty election to “step-up” the capital gains for U.S. purposes upon their exit from Canada. However, if a client would have any assets that would be in an unrealized loss position from a U.S. income-tax perspective (after adjusting the U.S. dollar-cost basis), we might recommend that no realization would occur for U.S. purposes so that we can preserve the losses to apply against future realized gains in the United States. Given our Canada/U.S. tax and investment expertise, we can provide great value to our clients upon their departure from Canada and entrance into the United States.

As we alluded to earlier in this article, there are still a number of factors that need to be addressed and reviewed upon a departure from Canada. These include immigration planning, currency exchange, tax preparation, compliance and planning, a comprehensive review of health and risk management programs, the consolidation of investment and retirement accounts and management, estate planning and much more.

At Cardinal Point, we are fortunate in that we provide a Comprehensive Wealth Management Solution that meets our clients’ specific and unique needs. We are not just “book smart.” The majority of our advisors actually live and work in both countries, and are recognized as leading experts in Canada/U.S. financial planning. If you are considering a move to the United States from Canada, we would encourage you to request our White Paper, Manage Your Canada – U.S. Cross Border Lifestyle and/or reach out to us directly at info@cardinalpointwealth.com

 

 

 

Canadians Living in California, California Tax Filing with a Canadian Spouse

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canadians living in californiaOur previous article discussed the concept of California domicile and the application of California community-property rules to Canadians domiciled in the state. This article is the second installment in our series explaining about Canadians Living in California and how California community property laws can impact Canadians.

At Cardinal Point, we regularly deal with cross-border couples who maintain cross-border lifestyles due to career commitments or other obligations. It’s important to understand how California’s community property laws apply when one spouse is domiciled in California and the other in Canada.

Imagine a married couple in which the wife lives in Toronto (and is domiciled in Ontario) and the husband lives in Los Angeles (and is domiciled in California). Both spouses are dual American and Canadian citizens and they file a joint U.S. Form 1040 tax return. The husband, Drew, is a professional hockey player who plays for a California-based NHL team. Drew’s wife, Amber, is a top fashion model based out of Toronto. The couple owns homes in both Toronto and Los Angeles. Since Amber is mainly working in Toronto, New York, London and Paris, she only spends two weeks a year in Los Angeles with her husband. Moreover, Amber does not earn any California-sourced income.

One might assume that Amber does not need to file a California tax return and pay California tax, given that she doesn’t earn any California income and isn’t domiciled in California.

But as we stated in our previous article, California follows its own rules for determining tax residency. Unlike federal tax treatment, an immigrant to California is normally a California resident from the date of arrival. No 183 physical presence test or green card is required to determine California residency status. Moreover, since California is not a party to the Canada-U.S. tax treaty, the treaty is not applicable for purposes of determining California residency (similarly, California does not allow a foreign tax credit or the federal foreign earned income exclusion).

Going back to Drew and Amber, because they are filing jointly on their federal return, California requires the same joint filing status on their California return, and they would pay California tax on their worldwide income.
There is, however, a little-known legal exception that will allow our imaginary couple to file separately instead of jointly for California tax purposes. To file separately in California, two criteria must be met: (1) Amber must not be a resident of California and (2) she must not have any California-sourced income, including California wages and income from California real-estate property.

With Amber filing separately under the exception, she would still need to file a California 540NR non-resident return to pay tax on 50% of her husband’s California income. That’s because Drew is domiciled in California. Moreover, she would need to disclose her non-California-sourced income on the California return to determine her California tax rate.
Because of the complexities facing cross-border couples, they are well advised to seek out tax advisers who specialize in navigating the cross-border tax landscape.

Marc Gedeon is a CPA (U.S), CPA (Canada) and Tax Attorney at Cardinal Point, a cross-border wealth management organization with offices in the United States and Canada.  Marc specializes in  providing Canada-U.S. cross-border financial, tax, transition, and estate planning services.  This piece is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Online readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.

Americans Exiting Canada: Understanding the Five-Year Deemed Disposition Rule

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American citizens living in Canada for more than five years face an imposed exit tax on unrealized gains.

One of the most common questions we receive from Americans moving to Canada is how to navigate around the Canada Revenue Agency’s five-year deemed disposition rule. Canada assesses an exit tax on any unrealized capital gains inside taxable accounts in cases where the U.S. citizen moves back to the United States after having been a Canadian tax resident for longer than 60 months.

It is important to note that this rule does not apply to any tax-deferred investment accounts or plans.

Some visa holders arrange their date of return to the United States to be 60 months less a day in order to avoid qualifying for this event. But in many cases, this is inconvenient for the corporations that employ them. And it can create personal family hardship, should it occur, for example, in the middle of a school year.

The Canada-U.S. tax treaty requires that non-tax-deferred securities accounts be taxed in the country of the beneficial owner’s residency. Accounts that are transferred to Canada from the United States “in kind” retain their original cost basis (usually the purchase price) for U.S. tax purposes. But a second cost basis—equal to the accounts’ market value on the day the beneficial owner became a Canadian resident for tax purposes—is automatically generated. This can cause confusion, and in many cases erroneous tax reporting, in both Canada and the United States.

Does leaving your accounts in the U.S. help?
In the past, some U.S. citizens would simply leave their U.S. taxable and trust accounts in the United States in an attempt to get around the Canadian five-year tax rule. Prior to 2013, this sometimes worked. The CRA required, but did not rigorously enforce, reporting of unrealized capital gains of all taxable accounts, including those remaining in the U.S.

In 2013, however, the CRA introduced a revamped, more robust version of a form called the T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement, which is somewhat similar to the IRS’ foreign reporting requirements in the United States through IRS Form 8938 and the FinCEN 114. The CRA T1135 form requires a detailed annual accounting of all foreign accounts (including those in the United States) held by a Canadian tax resident. Failing to file this form leads to penalties. And given the increased information sharing initiatives now in place between the CRA and IRS, taxpayers must be compliant. If an American moves back to the United States after five years, the CRA will have a complete record of all of their taxable investment accounts in both countries. When completing the Canadian exit tax returns, you will be assessed on any unrealized capital gains from the date of when you entered Canada to the date of departure. This is reported on your Canadian exit return through Forms T1161 and T1243.

How do the tax rules work?

  • Let’s use a hypothetical example to illustrate how the rules work. For simplicity’s sake, we will ignore currency exchange. Bear in mind that in real life, currency exchange must be accounted for to determine the proper Canadian basis and ultimate proceed numbers for Canadian and U.S. purposes.
  • You purchase a number of investment securities (stocks, bonds ETFs etc.)in a taxable account that has a U.S. cost basis of $50,000. When you later move to Canada, the account is worth $100,000 ($50,000 of which is unrealized gains). Regardless of where the account is domiciled (Canada or the United States), you now have two adjusted cost bases for tax purposes. The U.S. basis is $50,000. The Canadian basis is $100,000.
  • Five years later, you move back to the United States; the account has now grown to a value of $150,000 ($100,000 capital gains for U.S. tax purposes and $50,000 for Canadian tax purposes). For Canadian tax purposes, you will have an imposed departure gain of $50,000. In Canada, 50% of the gain is taxable at your respective marginal rate. Assuming that you are in the highest marginal rate in Ontario upon exit, your net tax would be 24.76%.

For U.S. tax purposes, you would have to pick up capital gains of $100,000.
The current U.S. long-term capital gains rate of 15% would be applied. However, depending on your filing status and U.S. Adjusted Gross Income amounts, you could be subject to an additional 5% capital gains tax and a 3.8% levy on all net investment income for the tax year. Therefore, it is extremely important to proactively gain a sense of what exposure might exist in Canada and the United States prior to departure or the end of the tax year in order to avoid any unnecessary surprises.

  • On any Canadian tax paid, you would receive a passive foreign tax credit. The credit may be used for U.S. tax reporting purposes under the Canada-U.S. tax treaty—provided that it is properly filed by your accountant. It should be noted that this is a “deemed” sale, and not an actual sale of the securities in the account. For U.S. tax purposes, your original adjusted cost basis is still $50,000.
  • Interestingly, when moving back to the United States, the IRS does not allow for a stepped-up basis to be used for securities bought while living in Canada. Unlike in Canada, where the basis for Canadian tax purposes is calculated based on the market value on the day that the beneficial owner became a Canadian resident for tax purposes, the U.S. will only recognize the original basis. This means that if a security was bought in Canada for $50,000 and it was valued at $100,000 at the time you move back to the U.S., the IRS would consider $50,000 to be the cost basis—it will not allow it to be stepped up to $100,000.

How to minimize the Canadian exit tax
A qualified Canada-U.S. cross-border financial advisor will keep track of both your Canadian and U.S. cost bases, and tax-manage your portfolio accordingly. Actively and prudently employing tax-loss harvesting to offset gains can reduce the amount of exit tax owed. Contact Cardinal Point to learn more about our tax-managed portfolio strategies for Americans living in Canada, and how we personalize our investment process to fit your needs.