How far ahead should I start planning a move out of Canada?
Earlier than most people do, because the useful steps expire on the day residency ends. Departure planning is a calendar rather than a memo: valuations and elections come first, restructuring of what you hold comes next, and the departure-year return with its property schedules comes last. Each of those has a window, and the windows close in that order. Once the date has passed, the remaining choices are about reporting what happened rather than arranging it. If you have a date in mind, work backwards from it and see which steps still have room. If you do not, fix one, because most of the planning hangs off it.
Can I still do any planning after I have already left?
Less than before, and the difference is not marginal. Almost every lever, including realising losses, crystallising exemptions, closing accounts and choosing the timing of the move, depends on being resident when you pull it. Steps taken after the date are simply taxed on their own terms. What remains is genuine and worth doing: the departure-year return and its property schedules still have to be prepared correctly, values still have to be supported, and any election that survives the date still has to be made properly. But it is reporting work, so do not let a plan drift past the date on the assumption it can be picked up later.
What do I need to get valued before I leave the country?
Anything whose value on the departure day matters and is not published anywhere. Quoted holdings look after themselves; private company shares, partnership interests, property and anything illiquid do not. The point of doing it beforehand is that a value reached at the time, on a stated basis, is evidence, while a value reconstructed two years later is an argument. Start by listing what you hold, mark the items with no observable price, and commission valuations for those with enough lead time that they are dated on or about the day rather than after it.
Does the exact departure date matter or just the year?
The date, and often by more than people expect. The residency end date is what every other step is measured against: values are taken on it, elections are judged against it, and anything realised before it is treated differently from the same thing realised after. Because the date is frequently moveable by a few weeks, depending on a flight, a lease ending or a family joining later, it is a variable you can set rather than a fact you receive. Fix it deliberately, then sequence the rest around it.
In what order should I sell or move assets before leaving?
Work backwards from the departure date rather than forwards from today. Valuations and any elections come first, because later steps are measured against them. Restructuring of holdings follows, since what you own on the day is what the departure-year position is built from. Filings come last. Within the restructuring, the ordering depends on what interacts: a disposal that changes a loss position should be decided before the position it affects is fixed. There is no general order that suits everyone, which is why the plan is written as a dated list for the particular set of holdings.
What has to go on the return for the year I leave?
The departure-year return reports the part of the year you were resident, the reckoning that the change of residence triggers, and the property schedules that go with it. It is the last document in the sequence for a reason: it records what the earlier steps produced. If the valuations exist and the elections were made in time, preparing it is largely mechanical. If they do not, this is the point at which the gaps become visible and expensive to close. Assemble the supporting file as you go, not when the return is due.
Is there a California exit tax?
A wealth-and-departure tax has been proposed in California more than once and has not been enacted. What does exist is enforcement of the ordinary rules, which reaches further than people expect: California taxes its residents on everything and taxes non-residents on California-source income, so trailing items from work done there remain taxable, and a change of residence is tested against a long list of factors rather than a moving date. See state residency and domicile.
Is there an exit tax when a green card holder leaves the United States?
Only for long-term residents — those who held the green card for long enough to be inside the expatriation regime — and then only if one of the covered expatriate tests is met. The step people skip is the formal one: the status has to be properly ended for tax purposes, and until it is, worldwide filing continues no matter where you live. Abandoning the card and forgetting the tax filing is the common, expensive sequence. See giving up a green card.
