Moving from Canada to US

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alla
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:33 pm

Moving from Canada to US

Post by alla »

I have several questions about doing an "exit from Canada", and becoming US resident:
1. what is the best way to handle to RRSPs? what are the tax implications of cashing them in versus keeping RRSP accounts for many years?
2. Alternatives to transfering a limited Canadian company to US? "exit from Canada" requires all of the retained earnings from the company to be transfered to the owner, and then to pay income tax on it as personal income. If there any tax advantage to creating a US LLC subsiduary of the Canadian company? Are there any other viable alternatives?
3. What is the best way to transfer Canadian investment accounts, containing Mutual funds, stocks to US? Do you have to sell all investments, and start new in US?
thanks in advance
nelsona
Posts: 18314
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

The treatment of RRSPs is discussed sufficiently in other threads. If ytou will collapse RRSP, it is almost always best to do this after leaving Canada, but you should crystallize any gains in your RRSP befor leaving.

3. You can get your Cdn broker to transfer <b>STOCKS </b> to your new US brokerage account. You will not be able to transfer mutual funds.

Given that you already have to pay tax on the gains of any investments you hold when you leave, and that you won't be able to trade these after you leave, you might just consider selling your mutual funds before leaving and re-investing in US mutuals after you move.

Make sure <b>before you leave</b> that your RRSP is at a manager and in the type of account that will be tradeable from US. TDWaterhouse is one such brokerage.

<i>nelsona non grata</i>
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