French freelancer moving to Canada - taxes

[dingdong]

Hi,

I will be moving from France (my country of citizenship) to Canada (BC) for a year or so in April. I work as an independent contractor (work from home, paid by the hour) for a US company.

Questions:

If my client pays me $50k throughout the remainder of the calendar year, about how much will I expect to keep for myself?

From my research, I gather that there is:

- income tax
- pension plan
- GST/HST

Am I forgetting anything?

Am I right in saying that I am exempted from GST/HST given that my client is in the US?
Is there anyway to avoid CPP (pension plan)?
Given $50k in revenue with no deductions, is 25% of that amount approx. what I can expect to pay for income tax+pension plan?

Thank you very much

[nelsona]

You will be responsible for CPP as a self-employed individual. The only way to avoid this is if (a) you continue to pay into the France system, and (b) you getea letter of compliance for France stating this. I assume you will not be reporting this income to France, since you would no longer be livuing there?

1/3 would be a good amount to set aside for taxes/CPP.

btw, if you do pay cpp even for 1 year you will get some CPP when you retire, no matter where you live.

[dingdong]

Thanks! Any insight on the GST/HST, given that my client is in the USA?

[nelsona]

You will not need to chanrge GST. It would still be good to register for GST #, as this would get you rebates.