T1135 — what to gather
What the foreign property statement is built from — and why it is a cost exercise rather than a valuation one.
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What the foreign property statement is built from — and why it is a cost exercise rather than a valuation one.
The document pack
- Every foreign account, with the institution, country and cost of funds held
- Foreign shares and securities, with their cost in Canadian dollars
- Foreign real estate, with purchase price, closing costs and capital additions
- Interests in foreign companies, partnerships and trusts
- Foreign life insurance policies and annuities
- Precious metals, crypto and other property held outside Canada
- The exchange rate used for each acquisition, and its source
- Confirmation of what is held inside Canadian registered plans or Canadian brokerages
Why each of these is asked for
The test is cost, in aggregate, at any time in the year — not market value and not per account. That is why a paid-off apartment abroad and a small foreign brokerage can together cross the line, and why the holdings inside Canadian registered plans have to be identified separately rather than counted.
Where to go from here
Send what you have and we will tell you what is missing. A complete pack is usually the difference between a filing that takes a fortnight and one that takes a season. Ask before the move rather than after it, because most of the useful options expire on the date.
Read and approved for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Published as general information. For a position on your own file, call the 24-hour helpline.
International tax accountant, in practice
The subject here is T1135, which is what people mean when they search for international tax accountant. This page covers who it applies to, the filings it produces, and the fixed fee agreed before work begins.
Why choose Legal Quotient for T1135 — what to gather
We say early if it is not our work
If a file needs something this practice does not do, you hear that at the start rather than after a bill.
Every figure on a page is traceable
Where a rate or a threshold appears in our writing it names the tax year it belongs to. Where it could not be confirmed, the page describes the mechanism and quotes no number.
Residence is tested, not assumed
Where you are resident for treaty purposes is a question with a method. We work through it and write down the answer, with the facts it rests on.
18,000+ clients served
Individuals, expats and corporations across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE have filed with us — 15+ years of cross-border work.
Cross-border situations we are engaged for
Inherited apartment and a small brokerage crossed the line together
The client had reported nothing abroad for years, on the basis that neither holding was large. An apartment received on a parent's death sat in one country and a modest brokerage account in another. Taken separately each felt immaterial; taken at cost and added together they were not. We established the cost of the inherited property and the cost of the securities in Canadian dollars, and set out the aggregate year by year. The engagement produced a documented cost schedule and statements for the years the aggregate was crossed, with the reasoning recorded for later years.
Holdings inside registered plans separated from the reportable total
A client had listed every foreign security they owned, including those held in a Canadian registered plan and in a Canadian brokerage account, and arrived at a total that alarmed them. The custody question changes the answer. We rebuilt the list with the custodian recorded against each line, then separated the Canadian-held holdings from those held outside the country. The engagement produced a statement based on the correct population, a schedule showing what had been set aside and why, and a format the client can maintain rather than reassembling from scratch each spring.
Exchange rates sourced and documented for acquisitions spread over a decade
Foreign securities and one property had been bought across many years and in three currencies, and earlier statements had used whatever rate came to hand. Because the measure is cost at acquisition, an inconsistent rate basis makes every later year inconsistent too. We fixed a single published source, applied it to the acquisition date of each holding, and recorded the rate and its source against every line. The engagement produced a cost schedule that reconciles from year to year, and working papers showing where each figure came from without repeating the exercise.
Crypto and metals held abroad brought into a cost schedule
The client held cryptocurrency across two foreign exchanges and bullion stored outside Canada, and had assumed neither was the kind of property the statement was about. Both belong on the same list as the accounts and the shares, measured at cost. Transaction histories were exported from each platform while access remained, holdings were traced between platforms, and the storage arrangement for the metals was documented. The engagement produced a cost history for each holding with the platform and its location recorded, and a practice of exporting records annually rather than at the point they are needed.
Interest in a foreign partnership identified during a routine review
A client mentioned in passing that they held a share in a family business abroad. It had never appeared on anything, because they thought of it as a family arrangement rather than as property. We obtained the partnership documents, the ownership record and the accounts, established what had been contributed and when, and worked out how the interest affected the aggregate cost for each year in question. The engagement produced a corrected position for the open years, and a note of what the client needs to provide annually for the interest to stay properly reported.
Foreign life policy and annuity added to a long-standing statement
A client had been filing foreign property statements for years, covering accounts and shares only. A policy taken out before they moved to Canada, and an annuity bought at the same time, had never been considered. Both sit on the list the statement is built from. We obtained the policy documents, established what had been paid in and when, and converted those amounts at the rates applying at the time. The engagement produced a revised schedule including both, and a description of the holdings the client can carry forward without reassembling the history.
A Retirement Plan That Grows Tax-Deferred in Only One Country
Cross-border retirement accounts are recognised by treaty, but the deferral usually has to be elected rather than assumed. The engagement checks whether the election was made, makes it where it was missed, and reports the account on whichever side requires it.
Read how this one runsA Family Trust Abroad With Reporting on Both Sides
A trust settled in one country and a beneficiary living in another produces reporting for the trust, the settlor and the beneficiary, on different forms and different dates. The engagement maps who files what before anything is prepared.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
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Performance income is taxed where earned — Regulation 105 in Canada, withholding agreements in the U.S. — with special treaty articles overriding the usual rules.
Performance income is taxed where the performance happens, and the deduction is usually taken at source on the gross fee before expenses. Recovering the difference is a filing exercise in the other country, and it only works if the tour, the residency and the withholding certificates were documented while the work was being done.
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