Repatriating profits to Canada — where does doing it myself start to cost money?
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 foreign affiliate surplus rules decide how much of a dividend arrives tax-free in Canada, the treaty sets the withholding on the way out, and the character chosen has to match the substance of what the entities actually did.
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.
How do I bring profits from my overseas company back to Canada?
There are four routes and they are not interchangeable: a dividend, interest on money you lent the company, a fee for services actually provided to it, and a repayment of what you put in. Each is taxed differently at both ends, in how much arrives taxable in Canada and in what the other country withholds on the way out. The answer is usually a combination rather than a single choice, and it depends on the history of the entity: what it earned, where it earned it, what tax it has already paid, and what you actually contributed. Start with that history, not with the amount you want.
Is a dividend from my foreign subsidiary taxable in Canada?
Not necessarily in full. The foreign affiliate surplus rules sort a company's accumulated earnings into categories, according to the kind of income they came from and the tax paid on them, and a dividend is treated in Canada according to which of those pools it is paid out of. That makes reconstructing the company's history the real work: years of earnings, the character of each, and the foreign tax attaching to them. Where the records support it, part of a distribution can arrive without further Canadian tax. Where they do not, the default treatment is considerably less generous.
Should I charge a management fee instead of taking a dividend?
Only if the services are real. A fee is deductible to the payer and taxable to the recipient, which changes where the profit lands, and it is often more efficient than a dividend. But it has to correspond to something the recipient actually did, at a price that reflects it. A charge invented at year end to move a number is the arrangement both tax authorities look for first, and it fails in the least convenient way: denied where it is paid and taxed where it is received. If the services exist, document what they are and price them properly.
Can I just take back the money I lent my foreign company?
Repaying capital or a shareholder loan is a genuine route, and it is frequently overlooked in favour of a dividend. What it requires is a record: that the money went in, on what terms, and how much remains outstanding. Where the contribution was documented at the time, a repayment is what it appears to be. Where it was informal, with advances made over years and recorded properly in the books of neither company, the character of the withdrawal is open to challenge. Reconstructing that history is often the first task, and sometimes the one that takes longest.
Do I pay withholding tax when my foreign company pays me?
Generally the other country deducts something at source, and the treaty sets the maximum it may take on each category of payment. That is another reason the character matters: dividends, interest and service fees are usually dealt with by different articles, at different rates. The entitlement has to be established before the payment is made rather than claimed afterwards. Where tax is withheld, the next question is how much of it can be relieved against Canadian tax, and that turns on how the same payment is characterised on this side of the border.
Does it matter which year I bring the money home?
Often more than the route does. The surplus pools change as the foreign company keeps trading, the Canadian tax position of the recipient changes from year to year, and a distribution made in one movement can land in the worst available place in both countries at once. Sequencing the extraction across successive years frequently produces a better outcome than a single large payment, and it is a decision to make before the payments start rather than to review afterwards. It also buys time to get the documentation for each element in order.
Can I set up a trust that works in two countries?
You can, but the two systems classify and tax trusts differently enough that a structure which is efficient in one is often a reporting problem in the other — a Canadian family trust with a US beneficiary, or a US revocable trust holding Canadian property, are the classic pairs. Canada's twenty-one-year deemed disposition, the US grantor rules and each country's reporting have to be read together, before drafting rather than after. See cross-border wills and trusts.
Do I need to report a foreign business I own?
Almost certainly, and on more than one form. Canada requires reporting of foreign affiliates on the T1134; the United States has a family of returns keyed to the entity type and your level of control, and several carry penalties that apply whether or not any tax is owed. These are information returns, so the obligation follows the ownership rather than the profit. See T1134.
