Canadian Expat Looking to Move to the US

[bestkg]

I'm a Canadian citizen based employee working for an international company. My family and I are currently working overseas and are non-residence of Canada from a tax perspective. However we have a house (our previous residence) in Canada, RRSP, and RESP's in Canada. We've been asked by my employer if we would consider moving to the US as a US based employee. However prior to making this decision we would like to understand our tax liabilities if we were to move to the US as a US based employee.

My understanding is that that as we have left Canada and are a non-resident that we would not be liable for departure tax as we have already left Canada? Would this change if we returned to Canada before moving to the US?

As a non resident of Canada I suspect that we would be responsible for the capital gains of our property as any non resident of Canada plus as a resident of the country we live in at the time of sale. If we sell the property prior to moving to the US would we be responsible for any US tax?

[nelsona]

With a house in Canada, unless it is rented out, we would need to know if the country in which you are living (a) has a tax treaty with Canada, and (b) if you are considered resident in that country. You mignt not be a non-resident (unless CRA already accepted you as such when you filed your departure return.

In any event, because of the US treaty, as soon as you live and work in US, you will be considered Cdn non-resident. I would not suggest returning to Canada in the interim.

So, first lets clear up your current tax status in Canada and your third country.