Tax resident status

[Teresa_30]

Good afternoon,

We (me and my husband) will be landing soon and returning back to our country in 2-3 weeks for 1-2 years before we will come back to Canada to settle in permanently.

I do not want to be canadian tax resident during this 1-2 year period as I will have income in my country - bank deposits' interest, salary, maybe sale of property closer to the time we will be going back to Canada.

During this period we are not going to have any property in Canada, no relatives, but I'm planning to invest some money with a Canadian investment firm like Raymond James during this period. I can wire money to them directly without using my bank account in Canada.

1/ I've opened a bank account in canada remotely but I will need to go to the bank in person to activate it when i'll get to Canada for landing purposes. Will the activation and getting the cards have any imact on my status? Or shall I go and close it to be on the safe side?

2/ Will getting the SIN have any impact on my status?

3/ my husband is Not going to have any income during this 1-2 year period, so I guess he should not care so much about his status for tax purposes. In this case he should be okay then to get the SIN and open a bank account here, correct?

 

[steaky]

You can be non resident while having SIN and Canadian bank account.

 

[Teresa_30]

Thanks, steaky!

Would investing through a Canadian investment firm in securities and bonds of canadian issuers (in my name) would undermine my non tax resident status?

 

[steaky]

No, they would not undermine your non tax resident status.

 

[Teresa_30]

Ok. To sum up, getting my SIN + activating a bank account and putting some money into it (5-10k, I will probably use this account to deal with investment in securities) + getting the credit/debit cards + investing in Canadian equities and bonds (though "ACTIVE involvement in a Canadian business, and Canadian bank accounts, retirement savings plans, credit cards, and securities accounts" is considered as secondary residential ties by the CRA)= non tax resident,

provided No significant residential ties (property, relatives), No secondary residential ties (driver's license, social ties, provincial health insurance, etc) but some economic ties and landed immigrant status, No other residential ties.

To reduce the economic ties I guess I should stay away from being active in using the bank and securities accounts/cards.

Won't be able to do anything with the landed immigrant status though - this is also on the list of secondary residential ties.

Correct?

 

[steaky]

Not sure if you need to stay away from being active in using the bank/securities accounts. The bank might impose restriction on those transaction if they know you are not a Canadian resident.

 

[Teresa_30]

Steaky, thanks a lot!

Would depositing 10k USD into the Canadian bank USD interest bearing account make me tax resident?

 

[Alurra71]

Steaky, thanks a lot!

Would depositing 10k USD into the Canadian bank USD interest bearing account make me tax resident?

I don't know if it would make you a tax resident, however I do know that canadian banks issue tax papers in the form of T4's or something similar at year end, which is also sent to CRA. I would think also your RRSP and things like investments would also generate these year end tax data forms.

I would suggest you talk to an accountant that is familiar with Canadian tax codes to see if you would be responsible for taxes each year or not.