US Citizen WANTS TO RETIRE TO AND LIVE IN -

QUESTION:

I am currently a resident in XXXXX, WA.  I have owned property in xxxxxxxx, BC since 1960.  I am retiring in less than 2 years, and I would like to build a residence on my Canadian property and spend from 1 - 9 months per year there.  I thought it would be no problem until I started investigating the process.  This can be a "sticky wicket".  There must be a way to do it, and I don't want to run afoul of the Canadian Government like some of the horror stories I've read about.  In order to build the house that I want to build, I would need to convert the equity in my current residence and pay cash for the Slocan house. 
 
However, I do not want to dump the equity into a house in which I could not live year round... if I so choose, and at the moment, I am not sure how much time will be spent there.  As I understand it, there is no longer a "retiree" category for immigrating to Canada.  I own property in my home state, and I have 4 children, who are natural b
orn citizens and US residents, and a daughter-in-law, who is a dual US/Canadian citizen.  There must be a way to do this.  What I don't want is to show up at the Canadian border and be told that I can't go "home".  And, I want to do it "above board" and legally.  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.  I am so looking forward to spending a lot more time there.

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david ingram replies:

My answer to this 4 year old question would still be the same.
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Dear Sir ,
               I was told that you could advise me regarding permanent relocation of a US citizen to Canada. My sister lived in Victoria for some 45years until she died, about 2 1/2 years ago ,so now my closest relative in Canada is a cousin,also in Victoria BC.
 
I was thinking of moving to Vancouver in about a year's time.
 
At present I live at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Alexandria Virginia 22xxx and my phone is 703 xxx-xxxx

              Any info. you may provide would be appreciated.
               Sincerely,
                               RXXXXXXXXX                        
========================================
david ingram replies:
 
From your question, it would appear that your  intention is to retire to Canada and it is unlikley that you could get landed status to do so.  I am 61 and it would be impossible for me to get permission to retire to the US as well.
 
Canada has many methods of coming as a worker when under 55 but after 55 it is very difficult to get into Canada as an employee and imopossible to get in as a retiree unless you are being sponsored by a child who lives here.
 
 Goto http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/skilled/assess/Education.asp and fill in the self-assessment guide. Itg will tell you if you qualify under the present rules.  If you assess yourself over 67 points, you do qualify.  Email me a copy and we can go from there.
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You can own a house in Canada and spend a lot of time here if you maintain a full blown home in the USA.  The US home should be of more or at least equal value to the Canadian home and provided you spend less than 183 days a year in Canada as a visitor, you will not become subject to Canadian Income Tax.  Moving from no income tax Washington state to BC with US social Security can result in significant extra BC tax because we do not recognize the low tax on social security for incomes under $25,000.

(On the other hand, a single working person making $100,000 as a self-employed person living in a rented house in California, paus more federal tax, state tax, medicare and FICA than a single person making a $100,000 in a rental house in Vancouver.  Ditto for Toronto and New York City).

If your self assessing test came out to 67 points, you could qualify to move here on your own.  However, unless you have a PHd in Nuclear Physics or Quantum mathematics, it is unlikely that you will qualify becasue of age penalties that start at age 55.

If you can find an employer to hire you and sponsor you, your point score would also go up after a year of working in Canada. in other words, you could work a year or two and get your full time status.

You also sound like you might be single.  If so, a solution would be to find one of our lovely Canadian Ladies and marry her and have her sponsor you.

If your Canadian daughter-in-law was living in Canada, she could sponsor you as well.  However, the wait list for a wife to sponsor you is anywhere from 4 to 22 months and there is a 22 year waiting list for sponsoring parents.

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David Ingram wrote:
It is very unlikely that blind or unexpected email to me will be answered.  I receive anywhere from 100 to 700  unsolicited emails a day and usually answer anywhere from 2 to 20 if they are not from existing clients.  Existing clients are advised to put their 'name and PAYING CUSTOMER' in the subject and get answered first.  I also refuse to be a slave to email and do not look at it every day and have never ever looked at it when I am out of town.  e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax help
However, I regularly search for the words"PAYING CUSTOMER" and always answer them first if they did not get spammed out. As an example, as I write this on Oct 18, 2007 since June 16th (124 days), my 'spammed out' box has 34,939 unread messages, my deleted box has 11854 I have actually looked at and deleted and I answerd 1078 email questions for clients and strangers.  I have also put aside 622 messages that I am maybe going to try and answer because they look interesting. -e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax help

Therefore, if an email is not answered in 24 to 36 hours, it is lost in space.  You can try and resend it but if important AND YOU TRULY WANT OR NEED AN ANSWER, you will have to phone to make an appointment.  Gillian Bryan generally accepts appointment requests for me between 10:30 AM and 4:00 PM Monday to Friday VANCOUVER (Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles) time at (604) 980-0321.
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david ingram's US / Canada Services
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Cell (604) 657-8451 -
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Calls welcomed from 10 AM to 9 PM 7 days a week  Vancouver (LA) time -  (please do not fax or phone outside of those hours as this is a home office) expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax help.
 
Disclaimer:  This question has been answered without detailed information or consultation and is to be regarded only as general comment.   Nothing in this message is or should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. No contract exists between the reader and the author and any and all non-contractual duties are expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from a competent and appropriately qualified legal practitioner or tax specialist for expert help, assistance, preparation, or consultation  in connection with personal or business affairs such as at www.centa.com. If you forward this message, this disclaimer must be included." e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax help.
David Ingram gives expert income tax & immigration help to non-resident Americans & Canadians from New York to California to Mexico  family, estate, income trust trusts Cross border, dual citizen - out of country investments are all handled with competence & authority.
 
Phone consultations are $400 for 15 minutes to 50 minutes (professional hour). Please note that GST is added if product remains in Canada or is to be returned to Canada or a phone consultation is in Canada. expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax help.
This is not intended to be definitive but in general I am quoting $900 to $2,900 for a dual country tax return.
$900 would be one T4 slip one W2 slip one or two interest slips and you lived in one country only (but were filing both countries) - no self employment or rentals or capital gains - you did not move into or out of the country in this year.
 
$1,100 would be the same with one rental
 
$1,300 would be the same with one business no rental
 
$1,300 would be the minimum with a move in or out of the country. These are complicated because of the back and forth foreign tax credits. - The IRS says a foreign tax credit takes 1 hour and 53 minutes.
 
$1,600 would be the minimum with a rental or two in the country you do not live in or a rental and a business and foreign tax credits  no move in or out

$1,700 would be for two people with income from two countries

$2,900 would be all of the above and you moved in and out of the country.
 
This is just a guideline for US / Canadian returns
 
We will still prepare Canadian only (lives in Canada, no US connection period) with two or three slips and no capital gains, etc. for $175.00 up.
 
With a Rental for $375
 
A Business for $375 - Rental and business likely $500
And an American only (lives in the US with no Canadian income or filing period) with about the same things in the same range with a little bit more if there is a state return.
 
Moving in or out of the country or part year earnings in the US will ALWAYS be $800 and up.
 
TDF 90-22.1 forms are $50 for the first and $25.00 each after that when part of a tax return.
 
8891 forms are generally $50.00 to $100.00 each.
 
18 RRSPs would be $900.00 - (maybe amalgamate a couple)
 
Capital gains *sales)  are likely $50.00 for the first and $20.00 each after that.

Catch - up returns for the US where we use the Canadian return as a guide will be $150 to $500.00 depending upon numbers of bank accounts, RRSP's, existence of rental houses, etc.

Just a guideline not etched in stone.
 
 
This from "ask an income trusts tax and immigration expert" from www.centa.com or www.jurock.com or www.featureweb.com. David Ingram deals on a daily basis with expatriate tax returns with multi jurisdictional cross and trans border expatriate problems  for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, China, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Georgia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii, Florida, Montana, Morocco, Israel, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Bangkok, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada,, Virgin Islands, US, UK, GB, and any of the 43 states with state tax returns, etc. Rockwall, Dallas, San Antonio Houston, Denmark, Finland, Sweden Norway Bulgaria Croatia Income Tax and Immigration Tips, Income Tax  Immigration Wizard Antarctica Rwanda Guru  Consultant Specialist Section 216(4) 216(1) NR6 NR-6 NR 6 Non-Resident Real Estate tax specialist expert preparer expatriate anti money laundering money seasoning FINTRAC E677 E667 105 106 TDF-90 Reporting $10,000 cross border transactions Grand Cayman Aruba Zimbabwe South Africa Namibia help USA US Income Tax Convention. Advice on bankruptcy  e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax help.

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