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.
Is my overseas pension taxable in Canada now that I live here?
Generally yes, because a resident is taxed on worldwide income, but which country gets to tax it first is set by the treaty with the paying country. Most treaties give the country of residence the right to tax periodic pensions, while some reserve a right to the source country as well, and lump sums are frequently treated differently from a monthly payment. There is no single answer that holds across every pension. The article that applies to yours has to be read against the specific plan, and the plan's own character under its home law matters as much as the treaty wording.
Will I be taxed twice on a foreign pension?
Not in the ordinary case, though you may well pay in both places and then recover the difference through relief rather than avoid it at the outset. Where the source country withholds on payment, a credit at home for that tax normally relieves the double charge, capped at the home tax on the same income. Where the treaty gives the taxing right to one country only, the answer is better than a credit, since the other should not be charging at all, and an exemption or a reduced withholding can often be claimed from the payer in advance.
I get a Canadian pension but live abroad, what is being withheld?
Pension payments from Canada to someone who is not resident are generally subject to withholding at source, deducted by the payer before the money reaches you. The domestic rate applies unless the treaty with your country of residence sets a lower one, and that reduction is not automatic. It normally depends on you having given the payer a declaration of residence, which is why people who move abroad and tell nobody are withheld at the full domestic rate for years. Where too much has been taken, recovery is usually possible, but it runs through a filing rather than the payer.
Should I transfer my overseas pension into a Canadian plan?
Sometimes, and the decision rarely turns on tax alone. A transfer can be treated as a taxable event in the country the money leaves, even where the receiving arrangement is a recognised retirement plan at home, and any withholding taken on the way out may be difficult to relieve if the corresponding income is not taxed here in the same year. Against that sit currency risk, the survivor benefits you would give up, and the administrative difficulty of dealing with a plan whose administrator no longer has you on its books. Model both before moving anything.
How is a government social security pension from another country taxed?
State pensions are usually dealt with by their own treaty article, separate from the one covering occupational and private pensions, and the outcome can differ sharply between the two. Some treaties assign the taxing right to the country of residence, some to the country paying, and several provide a partial exemption in the residence country for the portion that reflects contributions already taxed. Because the rules are specific to each agreement, the safe approach is to identify the paying scheme precisely, find the article that names that category, and apply it rather than assuming it follows the private pension.
Do I have to report a foreign pension I have not started drawing?
Possibly, and the reporting question is separate from the tax one. Foreign property disclosure regimes sometimes reach interests in overseas plans and sometimes carve out recognised pension arrangements, depending on how the plan is constituted in its own country. A pot you cannot touch and have never drawn from can still be reportable if the carve-out does not fit it. The distinction usually turns on the plan's legal form rather than its name, so the deed or scheme rules need reading. Establish it before the first payment rather than in the year you retire.
What counts as foreign income, and what is a foreign tax?
Foreign income is income sourced outside the country you are filing in — where the work was done, where the property sits, where the payer is resident, depending on the type. A foreign tax, for credit purposes, is a levy imposed by another country that functions as an income tax and that you were legally required to pay. Consumption taxes, property taxes and most social contributions are not, however real the cost. Sourcing is decided by rule, not by which bank received it. See the foreign tax credit.
Which country do I pay tax to first?
Generally the source country — where the income arises — taxes first, often by withholding before you receive it. Your country of residence then taxes the same income and credits what the source country took. That order is why timing matters: a residence-country return filed before the source-country tax is settled has nothing to credit yet. Getting the sequence right is most of the work. See international tax planning.
