Pre-immigration tax planning — do I need an adviser, or can I do it alone?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: before arrival, gains can be realised outside the new system, structures can be simplified, and the cost base of what you keep is generally set at arrival value.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
When should I start tax planning before moving to Canada?
As early as you can name a likely arrival date. Almost every useful step in this area depends on being taken before residency begins, because the same step afterwards is a taxable event. The date is largely within your control, which is what makes the window unusual. Work backwards from it: identify what you hold, what it cost, what it is worth now, and which of those items you intend to keep. Some can be dealt with cleanly before arrival. Others are better kept, with their value at arrival recorded. Leaving the question until after you land does not remove the planning, it just removes the choices.
Will Canada tax the gain that built up before I moved?
Generally the cost base of what you still hold is set by reference to its value when you become resident, so growth that happened before the move sits outside the new system. That is the principle behind almost all pre-arrival planning. It only works if the arrival-day value can be evidenced later, sometimes years later, when the asset is finally sold. Broker statements, a dated valuation, an exchange rate source: these are cheap to obtain on the day and expensive to reconstruct afterwards. Where an asset is hard to value, such as shares in a private company, the valuation is the work rather than a formality.
My spouse arrives months before me, when do I become resident?
Residency is determined for each person, not for the household, so different arrival dates can produce different start dates. In practice, though, family ties are one of the things that count towards residency, so a spouse and children established in the country pulls the later arrival's date earlier than the passport stamp suggests. This matters if planning steps were scheduled around the second date. Where a family will split its arrival, the safe approach is to fix the earliest date at which any member of the household establishes ties, and treat that as the deadline for anything that has to happen first.
Do I need to formally end my old tax residency first?
It is worth doing, and it is regularly skipped. A prior residence that was never formally ended leaves you resident in two places at once, which is not fatal but does change everything that follows: two sets of filings, a treaty tie-breaker to apply, and the possibility that a pre-arrival step you thought was outside the new system was taxable in the old one. Check what the departing country requires, whether that is a return, a notification or a formal declaration, and keep the evidence. Doing this in the right order is cheaper than explaining it to two revenue authorities afterwards.
How do I record what my assets were worth when I arrived?
Gather the evidence on or close to the arrival date, and keep it with the eventual tax file rather than in your email. For listed holdings, a broker statement showing the position and the price. For property, a dated valuation or an agent's appraisal. For currency, the rate source you used, applied consistently. For a private business, a valuation prepared for the purpose and retained with its working papers. None of this is filed anywhere at the time, which is exactly why it gets lost. It becomes relevant on a disposal that may be a long way off, and by then nobody can recreate the day.
Can I sell my overseas business before immigrating to reduce tax?
Often, but the question is whether it is the right step rather than whether it is available. Realising a gain before residency starts keeps it outside the new system, and that is a real advantage where the asset has grown a great deal. Against it: the sale has consequences in the country you are leaving, it may not be commercially sensible on that timetable, and keeping the asset with its value fixed at arrival may achieve much of the same result. The decision is usually about what is genuinely saleable by the date, not about tax alone. Model both routes before committing to either.
How much foreign income is tax-free in Canada?
None of it is tax-free for being foreign. A Canadian resident is taxed on worldwide income, so foreign salary, interest, dividends, rent and gains all go on the return, converted to Canadian dollars. What genuinely reduces the bill is the basic personal amount, the credit for foreign tax already paid, and any treaty article that exempts a specific type of income. The reporting thresholds people have in mind — the foreign property statement, for one — govern reporting, not exemption. See the foreign tax credit.
What is a double tax treaty and what does it actually do?
It is an agreement between two countries that divides up the right to tax. Article by article it decides which country taxes employment income, dividends, interest, royalties, pensions, property and business profits — and where both may tax, it caps what the source country can withhold and tells the other to give credit. It also breaks residence ties and opens a government-to-government channel for disputes. What it never does is apply itself: a treaty position is claimed. See our treaty work.
