Hello Group,
I can obtain a Portuguese passport through my mother and have recently discovered that to encourage residency, the Portuguese government will exempt income tax for the first 10 years to new residents...!!!
I'm recently divorced, and as soon as my kids go to school it is our intention to dispose of the principal residence making it easy to break ties with Canada. It is my understanding that as a non-Canadian resident, a lump sum withdrawal from my RRSP would then be subject to a 25% Canadian withholding tax, but, if I convert my RRSP to a RRIF that rate could be even lower (15-25%). If this is the case, what are the rules and factors that influence the effective withholding tax rate (i.e. could I structure a payments within the 10 year tax exempt period and qualify for the lower withholding tax?) ?
Any thoughts from the group are appreciated. Thank you in advance.
FTR... Canada and Portugal appear to have a tax treaty in place.