Tax for landed PR

[smallwhale]

Great discussions. I have a few questions regarding this topic.
I am planning to permanently move to Canada in June 2017. I landed in Canada to activate my PR in August 2014 and was there in Canada for 2-3 days.
I will be relocating from USA to Canada.

A few questions about the taxes.
1) I have a home in USA. If I sell the home before I come to Canada, will the gain be taxed as per Canadian income tax law ? What if I keep the home and sell it after coming to Canada. What will be the tax implication for the
gain coming out of the sale of the property in this case ? What would be your suggestion ?

2) What will I do with my 401K, IRA, Roth IRA, etc ? I know Canada has RRSP (Canadian 401K, I guess). I am not sure if Canada has anything similar to IRA and Roth IRA. Will any gain in those accounts be taxable in Canada ? What is the conventional wisdom to deal with these retirement accounts ?

3) Any life insurance that I might have purchased in USA ?

4) Any health savings account that I may have in USA ?

5) I guess for this year alone I have to file the taxes in both USA and Canada. Not sure if USA will tax on the entire years's income. If yes, then will I have to pay double tax ? Or is there a treaty between USA and Canada to avoid double taxation ?

6) What are the best ways to save taxes in Canada ? For example, in USA the mortgage insurance are tax deductible. In Canada, they are not. What are the common practices to save taxes in Canada (if any) ?

7) Any tax professional in the Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver area who knows about the tax laws in both the countries ?

 

[deadbird]

Following

 

[Jeksis]

Great discussions. I have a few questions regarding this topic.
I am planning to permanently move to Canada in June 2017. I landed in Canada to activate my PR in August 2014 and was there in Canada for 2-3 days.
I will be relocating from USA to Canada.

A few questions about the taxes.
1) I have a home in USA. If I sell the home before I come to Canada, will the gain be taxed as per Canadian income tax law ? What if I keep the home and sell it after coming to Canada. What will be the tax implication for the
gain coming out of the sale of the property in this case ? What would be your suggestion ?

2) What will I do with my 401K, IRA, Roth IRA, etc ? I know Canada has RRSP (Canadian 401K, I guess). I am not sure if Canada has anything similar to IRA and Roth IRA. Will any gain in those accounts be taxable in Canada ? What is the conventional wisdom to deal with these retirement accounts ?

3) Any life insurance that I might have purchased in USA ?

4) Any health savings account that I may have in USA ?

5) I guess for this year alone I have to file the taxes in both USA and Canada. Not sure if USA will tax on the entire years's income. If yes, then will I have to pay double tax ? Or is there a treaty between USA and Canada to avoid double taxation ?

6) What are the best ways to save taxes in Canada ? For example, in USA the mortgage insurance are tax deductible. In Canada, they are noovet. What are the common practices to save taxes in Canada (if any) ?

7) Any tax professional in the Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver area who knows about the tax laws in both the countries ?

I am interested in these questions too. Here are responses to some of them:

Q1. See section "Property you owned before you arrived in Canada" here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/newcomers/#whtr

Q5. US federal & states usually only tax on income earned in the period you were a resident or part-year resident of US or the US state, with adjustments made to calculate and incorporate part-year residency in the tax computations. See here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxation-of-dual-status-aliens

Q7. Probably. But I read in another post that Canadian tax professionals charge up to $500 (this was probably CAD) to do US taxes and someone suggested to engage a US tax professional for US taxes instead. US fees are about US $50!

Hope others respond to your questions.

 

[Jeksis]

The U.S. resident formula

Unlike the factual test in Canada that determines residency, the U.S. taxes non-U.S. citizens based on a very mechanical formula. The calculation is thus: You take all the days you have lived in the United States during the current year, a third of the days you stayed in the U.S. in previous year, and one sixth of the number of days from the year before that. If the sum of those days exceeds 183, you are deemed a U.S. resident.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/taxes/6-must-know-tax-facts-for-canadians-earning-abroad-1.1167892