Do I need to come to your office?
No, though you are welcome to: we have offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE. Documents move through a secure portal, and meetings can be in person or by video, arranged around your time zone. Clients in the Gulf, India, Europe and across North America all work with us the same way.
Does it matter which of your offices handles my file?
No. The same named reviewer signs off, the same authorisation is filed with the tax authorities, and the same fixed fee is agreed in writing before any work starts.
I work on a ship, which country actually taxes my wages?
Usually not the one you would guess from the ports you call at. Most treaties deal with employment aboard a ship or aircraft operated in international traffic under a separate rule, which points to the country connected with the operator of the vessel rather than to the waters the ship happened to be in. The ordinary rule for employment, which follows where the duties are physically performed, is displaced. That is why a seafarer who counts days at sea usually gets the wrong answer. The starting point on a mariner file is the flag, the operator and the place from which the vessel is genuinely run, taken from the employment contract and the vessel documents.
Does the day-count exemption apply to seafarers like it does to other workers?
Often it does not apply at all, because the exemption belongs to the ordinary employment rule and shipping income sits outside it. Where a treaty deals with international traffic separately, the allocation does not turn on presence in the other country, so counting days at sea proves nothing. Where a voyage is confined to one country's internal waters, or the vessel is not operated in international traffic, the ordinary rule can revive and the day count matters again. Deciding which rule governs a particular contract, and whether it changed part way through the year, is the analysis that has to be done before anything is filed.
I work offshore on a rig, is that treated the same as a ship?
Not necessarily. A rig engaged in exploration or exploitation of the seabed is frequently dealt with by an offshore activities rule of its own, distinct from both the shipping rule and the ordinary employment rule, and it commonly comes with its own duration test for when the activity becomes taxable in the coastal state. A drilling unit under tow may also be treated differently from the same unit on location. So two workers on adjacent units can be taxed under different rules. The contract, the nature of the operation and the location of the work all have to be established before the position can be taken.
My foreign shipping employer takes no tax off my pay, is that right?
It may well be correct under the treaty, and it still leaves you with a Canadian obligation. If you remain resident in Canada you are taxed here on your worldwide income, so the wages go on your Canadian return whether or not any foreign country has taxed them, and where nothing was withheld there is no credit to claim against the Canadian liability. The practical consequence is that you should be paying by instalments rather than facing the whole amount on filing. Seafarers on gross-paid contracts are the group most often caught out, because nothing on the payslip warns them.
Do I stay a Canadian resident if I am at sea most of the year?
Almost always, if your home and family remain in Nova Scotia. Canadian residence is decided on ties rather than on time in the country, and time aboard a vessel is not time in another jurisdiction for this purpose, so a mariner who keeps a house, a spouse, dependants and provincial health coverage here stays resident throughout a long tour. To become non-resident you have to sever those ties and be able to date it, and that step brings departure obligations of its own on the property and investments you hold when you go.
What records does the CRA want from an offshore worker claiming treaty relief?
The contract of employment, naming the employer, the vessel or installation, and the work it performs. Documentation of the vessel and its operator, since the shipping rule turns on the operator rather than on you. A record of where the unit was working through the year, which the rota and crew lists usually supply. Any foreign assessment or year-end statement, because a credit needs tax finally payable and not merely deducted. If the position rests on a treaty rule, the claim should be made openly on the return with the reasoning attached, rather than left to be inferred from a figure.
Is moving money between my own accounts in two countries taxable?
Moving your own capital between your own accounts is not itself income, so the transfer is not what creates tax. What can create tax or reporting is the income the money earned before it moved, a foreign-exchange gain on certain holdings, and the reporting obligations the balances themselves trigger — foreign account and asset reports keyed to balances rather than income. Remittances out of some countries also need certification before the bank will send them. See foreign account reporting.
What is double tax relief and how is it given?
Three mechanisms, and which one you get depends on your residence country's law and the treaty. Exemption leaves the foreign income out of the residence-country base. Credit taxes it and then subtracts the foreign tax, capped at the residence-country tax on that income. Deduction merely reduces taxable income by the foreign tax, and is usually the weakest. Canada and the United States lead with credit; several treaties give exemption for specific income types. See claiming the credit.
