Returning to Canada after years abroad — 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: residency restarts on arrival, foreign holdings are treated as acquired at that day's value, and departure-tax positions taken on the way out can sometimes be unwound on property still held.
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.
I am moving back to Canada — when do I become a tax resident again?
Residency restarts on arrival rather than on a date you nominate. It follows from the ties you re-establish — a home available to you, a spouse and dependants living here, the ordinary furniture of settled life. Once those ties are in place you are taxed in Canada on worldwide income from that point, and the part of the year before it is treated separately. Because the arrival date also sets the value at which your foreign holdings are treated as acquired, it is worth fixing deliberately and documenting at the time, rather than reconstructing it from a boarding pass two years later.
Do I have to pay Canadian tax on my overseas savings?
Not on the capital you bring with you. Money accumulated while you were a non-resident is not taxed again on arrival; what becomes taxable is the income and the gains arising after residency restarts. The practical difficulty is proving which is which. A deposit built up over a decade abroad looks identical in a Canadian bank statement to a transfer of this year's untaxed earnings, and the burden of showing the difference sits with you. Keep the closing balances, the account statements spanning the move, and the source documents for anything large.
What is the cost base of shares I bought while living abroad?
For Canadian purposes the shares are generally treated as acquired at their value on the day residency restarts, not at what you paid for them years earlier. That deemed acquisition is helpful, because growth accruing while you were a non-resident falls outside the Canadian gain. But it is only worth what your evidence is worth. A listed holding can be priced from the market on the arrival date. Anything unquoted — a private company, an overseas property, a partnership interest — needs a valuation prepared close to the time, since reconstructing one after a sale invites argument.
Can I get back the departure tax I paid when I left?
Sometimes, and only on property you still hold. The departure charge treats assets as sold on the way out; where the same property comes back with you, there is relief designed to unwind that treatment rather than leave you taxed on a disposition that never happened. It is not automatic. It depends on what was taxed on departure, on whether the asset is the same asset, and on filing the position properly rather than raising it afterwards. Dig out the departure-year return before you land, because the claim is written from what that return says.
What valuation evidence should I collect before I land in Canada?
Anything that fixes a value at a date, prepared before you have a reason to prefer a particular number. Brokerage statements as at the arrival date, bank balances, plan statements for foreign pensions, and for real property a written appraisal from a valuer in that country. For a private business, take the accounts closest to the move and, where the holding is material, a proper valuation report. Keep the evidence with the return rather than in a drawer. Years later the question is never what the asset was worth; it is what you can show it was worth.
Should I sell my foreign investments before or after I move back?
It is a real choice and it should be made before the move rather than discovered afterwards. Selling while still a non-resident keeps the gain outside the Canadian system entirely, subject to whatever the country you are leaving does with it. Holding through the move gives you the deemed acquisition at arrival-day value, so only later growth is Canadian. Which is better turns on the local tax on the way out, on the quality of your valuation evidence, and on whether you want the cash. Foreign pension and savings plans need separate thought again, because they rarely follow the same rule.
Is foreign pension income taxable in Canada?
Yes. A Canadian resident reports foreign pension income in Canadian dollars like any other income, and foreign tax withheld on it becomes a credit rather than a reduction of the amount reported. Where a treaty exempts part or all of it — some social security pensions are treated this way — the relief is claimed as a deduction on the return, not by leaving the pension off. Omitting it and claiming it was exempt are two very different filing positions. See the pensions and annuities article.
Do I pay Canadian tax if I live abroad?
Only if you remain a Canadian tax resident. Residency follows your ties rather than your address, so leaving while your home and family stay usually does not end it. Non-residents remain taxable on Canadian-source income — employment or business income earned in Canada, dispositions of taxable Canadian property, and passive amounts subject to withholding. The year you leave is its own exercise, with a deemed disposition and its own schedules. See leaving Canada.
