Wife moving to the US with GC while on maternity leave

[canamerica]

Thanks again nelsona - I think this clears it all up. We appreciate your replies, as well as those of others - very helpful.

We also understand we'll need to file form T2062 "Request by a Non-Resident of Canada for a Certificate of Compliance Related to the Disposition of Taxable Canadian Property", at least 30 days before the house is sold or at the latest within 10 days after the sale. And that we have 1 year after declaring ourselves NRs to qualify for the principal residence exemption and be exempt from Canadian tax.

Finally, in case this helps anyone, we understood that maternity benefits can be paid by Canada and the Province to someone who moved abroad, as long as the person was still a resident of the Province on the date the claim was submitted. However, we didn't know whether that only applied to the 18 weeks of maternity leave, or to the subsequent 32 weeks of parental leave as well. We called the service in charge, and were told that as long as the person was a resident of the Province at the time the initial application for both benefits was submitted (single application), she is eligible for both even if she is a NR on the actual date the parental benefits begin. Also, she can quit her job right after applying for maternity+parental benefits, without affecting either benefit, as long as she is within the "16 weeks prior to estimated birth date" when the benefit claims is submitted.

[nelsona]

"And that we have 1 year after declaring ourselves NRs to qualify for the principal residence exemption and be exempt from Canadian tax. "

Just so we're precise: Your principal residence exemption ends the day you are non-resident in canada. What happens is that when calculating your cap gains on the property, you are allowed to add 1 year to the number of years the property was your principal residence. This is for the calculation of tax. So you do need to calculate, which is not the same as for someone selling their principal residence while living in it.

Your principal residence exemption ends when you leave Canada.

So, now you will may have problem on your US return, since you enterd US three years ago, and bought another home. we'll see.

That is why it is unwise to begin US residency and end Cdn residency at different times (unless you have GC). If you were treating yourself as Cdn tax resident for past three years (which you probably should not have) then you should have filed in US as non-resident.