Taxation of RRSP withdrawals by dual citizens living in Canada

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MaggieA
Posts: 150
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 4:06 pm

Taxation of RRSP withdrawals by dual citizens living in Canada

Post by MaggieA »

Looking ahead a year or two, I have a question about US taxation of withdrawals from my (and spouse's) RRSPs.

We started out as Canadian citizens, moved to US on a job transfer in 2002. Eventually became US citizens during our years in the US, but returned to Canada in 2016 and intend to remain.

We captured the value of our RRSPs on move date from Canada to US in 2002. Had we stayed in the US I know US would only tax on gains since that date. But we came back to Canada. When we withdraw from our RRSPs in retirement, a couple years of so hence, will both Canada and US treat the entire amounts withdrawn as ordinary income, or do we get to exclude some portion?
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Re: Taxation of RRSP withdrawals by dual citizens living in Canada

Post by nelsona »

Canada will of course include the entire amount as income, thet is always the case.

For US, your non-taxable portion will be the amount you arrived in US with (that doesn't change), plus any RRSP contributions you made since then (including when back in Canada) that could not be deducted on your US return (ie. private (non-emeployer-sponsored) RRSP contributions).
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
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