Group restructuring or migration — can I handle this myself?
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: the plan has to identify, step by step, what each jurisdiction treats as a realisation event, which reliefs are elective and when they must be filed, and where a hybrid mismatch would strand a credit.
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.
Can I move my company to another country without triggering tax?
Rarely without triggering anything. The default position in most systems is that a reorganisation is a series of dispositions, and relief exists only where a specific rollover or deferral applies to that particular step. Moving a company's residence, in particular, tends to be treated as a realisation event by the country being left, because it is the last opportunity that country has to tax accrued gains. The question is therefore not whether tax is triggered but which steps trigger it, what relief exists for each, and whether the relief in one country is matched by anything in the other.
Will a rollover in one country be recognised by the other?
Not automatically, and assuming it will is the usual source of unpleasant surprises. Each country writes its own reliefs for its own purposes, and they are not harmonised. A share exchange that one jurisdiction treats as a continuation of the original holding may be treated by the other as a sale at market value on the same date. Where that happens, tax arises in one country in a year when the other recognises no gain at all, so there is often no foreign credit available to relieve it. The mismatch has to be found step by step, before the step is taken.
Does the order of the steps in a reorganisation actually matter?
It is frequently the difference between a workable plan and an expensive one. The same end structure can be reached by several routes, and each route passes through different intermediate states. A step order that is entirely sensible domestically can, once a second country is involved, put an asset into a position where a disposition is recognised on one side with no relief on the other, or separate a gain from the credit that would have sheltered it. Map every step against both systems first, then choose the order. Reversing a step after the fact is usually not possible.
Is the relief automatic or do we have to file an election?
Many of the most useful reliefs are elective, which means they apply only if they are claimed properly and on time. An election missed is generally an election lost, and the underlying transaction then stands on its default treatment. This is a mundane failure mode with serious consequences, and it is more common in cross-border work because the two countries' elections are filed with different authorities, on different forms, at different points in their respective years. Build the filing dates into the reorganisation plan as steps in their own right, with an owner named against each.
What is a hybrid mismatch and why did it strand our credit?
A mismatch arises where two countries characterise the same entity or the same payment differently — one sees a company, the other sees a transparent vehicle; one sees deductible interest, the other sees a distribution. Relief for foreign tax generally depends on both countries agreeing that the same person earned the same income in the same period. When they do not agree, tax is paid in one place and the credit that should have offset it has nothing to attach to in the other. The tax is real and the relief simply is not available.
We wound up a group company — was that a disposition?
Usually it is treated as one, whether or not anything was sold. Winding up generally means the entity disposes of its assets and the shareholder disposes of its shares, both at values fixed by the rules rather than by a negotiation. Where the entity and its shareholder are in different countries, each side applies its own rules to its own side of that, and the two do not necessarily land on the same value or even the same year. A wind-up should be planned with the same step-by-step care as an acquisition, and not treated as tidying up.
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.
Do NRIs pay tax on money sent to India?
Sending your own funds to India is a transfer of capital, not income, so the remittance itself is not taxed. What is taxable is income the money then earns in India — interest, rent, capital gains — under the rules for the account type it sits in. Sending money out of India is the direction that needs certification before the bank will act. See NRE, NRO and FCNR accounts.
