Leaving Canada admin

[daverobev]

It is *possible* I might convince my DW that a move to the UK is reasonable. I'm wondering what the logistics would be in terms of children/registered accounts "and all that".

UK side I'm not worried about at all; children are dual, I'm dual, DW will need to apply but that's fine. Well, or rather, I'm only concerned about dealing with registered accounts, I guess - everything else I know (you leave Canada? You're deemed to have sold all your property and must pay any capital gains due).

Presumably moving on the 1st of January is best (or a few days later) - in that you'd get TFSA room for the year, no income, but 100% of the personal allowance (ie, any cap gains will go against the $11k or so allowance, vs moving in December when you have a year's income) - I don't think it's pro-rated?

TFSA - does the UK recognise this in any way?

RESP - ditto?

RRSP - I know these can just be left alone; the UK treats them as 'proper pension things' so you don't need to declare them.

Sell house, sell shit, tell HMRC "I'm heeere!", job done? I guess I'd need to actually get passports for my children before going. And apply for a visa for my DW.

Anything else?

I've done it the other way and that was painless, relatively, but I didn't have much "to bring".

[Al1961]

My DW is a dual Canadian UK citizen, so I had looked a bit into some tax implications in case we moved there some time in our 60s, but can't answer most of your questions. Our kids are older, so no RESPs.

I don't think the TFSA is recognized in the UK, however the UK ISA has much higher contribution limits (15,240 GBP/yr currently), so you might want to just move it to the UK plan over time. No tax consequences in Canada for keeping or removing funds from the plan. Continues to be tax free in Canada, withdrawals add to your contribution limit if you ever become a resident again. Just don't try to put funds in while you are a non-resident.

There is an interesting tax treaty between Canada and UK. When you're ready to draw from your RRSP, convert it to a RRIF and withdraw a monthly amount. There is no withholding tax in Canada for periodic pension payments from a RRIF, payments are taxed as normal pension income in UK. You do not get the 25% tax free portion like you would from the withdrawal from a UK pension pot.

That's all I have.