US taxes on distribution from RRIF

[FRAMIC]

My husband and I are US residents with dual (Canada/US) citizenships. We have been living in the US for over 23 years but still have our RRSP's in Canada.
For the next couple of years prior to my husband's retirement, we have the opportunity to contribute to a Roth-IRA. We didn't use to be eligible when I was working but since I retired already, our reduced total income makes it now possible to contribute.

We are thinking of starting to withdraw from our Canadian RRSP and invest those amounts in the US in a Roth-IRA. We think that it would make sense to pay the taxes now and let that money grow completely tax-free in a US account since we intend to continue living in the US after my husband retires.

Our understanding is that, in order to pay only 15% taxes to the CRA on the distributions, I understand that we would need to convert the RRSP to a RRIF and elect for periodic pension payments, with a required minimum % every year.

My questions are as follows:
1) what constitutes periodic pension payments ? Monthly ? quarterly ?
2) is there a maximum amount per year that can be taken out before it is considered a lump sum and taxed at 25% instead of 15% ?
3) can the taxes paid to CRA on these distributions be recovered on our US tax return via the foreign tax credit ? if so, is it one for one ?
4) Do we need to produce a specific Canadian tax return yearly to declare these RRIF distributions ? what forms should we use for non-residents ?
Note: we already produce a section 216 (forms T776 and T1159) for our rental income from a Canadian cottage we own and we generally keep the total income less than $30K/year to avoid having to charge the Sales taxes to our renters. Would the income from the distributions of a RRIF need to be included in our total income as far as the rentals are concerned ?

Thank you so much in advance for your guidance.

[nelsona]

1/2. The frequency of withdrawals does not define periodic. It is the amount per year withdrawn, which can be no more than 10% of the start-of-year value. Anything over that would be considered non-periodic.
3. Yes the are eligible for credit, but much will depend on your other income, and how much of your RRIF withdrawal is considered taxable. There are 100's of post on here that describe how to determine the US tax on RRSP/RRIF income.
4. your RRIF withdrawals will have tax withheld, and that will be all. Becuae you are earning other world income, it is unlikely that a special 217 return would reduce your CDn tax.