Determining Your Residency Status

The taxation in Canada differs with your Residency status. If you are a Canadian Resident, then you are taxed on your worldwide income and filing of returns to the Canadian Revenue Agency is mandatory. If you are a non-resident, the taxation policy is different and you have to declare all Canadian income while filing the returns. But to know how to file your taxes, you first need to determine your residency status for tax purposes.

• You Are Considered As Non-Residents If

o You live normally and routinely outside Canada and are not a resident of Canada.

o You do not have any residential ties in Canada and

o You were living outside Canada during the entire tax year or

o You have lived for less than 183 days in Canada during the tax year

• You Are Considered a Deemed Resident If

o You have been staying in Canada for more than 183 days of the tax year

o You have no residential ties with Canada that are significant and

o You are not considered to be a resident of any other country as per the terms of the tax treaty Canada has signed with another country

• You Are a Deemed Non-Resident If

o You are considered to be a factual resident of Canada and also the resident of another country which has signed a tax treaty with Canada, and under the terms of that treaty, you are considered a resident of that other country rather than Canada

Non-Resident Tax Obligations

Any non-resident of Canada is obliged to pay non-resident tax tips on that income that he or she received from Canadian sources and the type of tax one has to pay or the requirement of filing the income tax return is decided by the type of income you receive. Generally, non-resident tax is filed under Part I tax or Part XIII tax. If you receive income from dividends, rental payments, royalty payments, pension payments, management fee, retiring allowances, old age security pension, Canada Pension Plan, registered retirement savings or income plan payments or annuity payments then you will be taxed under Part XIII. If you are running a business in Canada or if you sell, transfer or plan to sell a Canadian property, then you will pay tax under Part I.

Offshore Tax Planning

If you are planning on doing some offshore tax planning, by investing some money offshore, then you should be aware that almost all countries have signed tax treaties with Canada, and if you are a Canadian Resident, then income from these investments will also be calculated and considered as income and will have to be declared while filing the income tax returns. But if you are a non resident of Canada, there are options for you to do some offshore tax planning, but it is always better to avail the services of a tax expert to help you.

Is It Better To Hire Tax Experts For Offshore Tax Planning

Taxation can be tough to master and there are tax experts who will be aware of all the different tax laws that a country will have. This is why it is always better to opt for the services of a tax expert, especially if you are a non-resident and you are looking for offshore tax planning. Find a reputed tax expert company and get their advice before you start any activity off-shore.

What Is Cross-Border Tax?

Cross-border tax is to do with the taxes that are levied on a resident of one country by another country. There are many people who cross-borders to go to work or to do business and in such cases, there is a possibility of tax evasion by the people or companies. If a person earns from across the border or is running a business across the border, the information related to the earnings and the profits may not be provided by the people while they file their income tax returns. This will lead to tax evasion and to avoid this, neighboring countries are now signing cross-border tax treaties that will help in sharing of data amongst the countries specifically on the lines of income and profit earned by citizens of a country working in another.

Cross-Border Tax Treaties

• A cross-border tax treaty is generally signed between two countries that will open up the sharing of data between both the countries with respect to the income and profit earned by the citizen of one country in another country

• This enables the governments to ensure that they are not levying tax on the person twice in the same income ad also will help to identify if someone is trying to evade taxes by working across the border.

• Double taxation of residents is something that any country will want to avoid as it will show up the country in a bad light amongst the working class of a country.

• But at the same time there are some clauses and special taxation rules that are introduced in cross-border tax treaties and one cannot be aware of all the details with regard to cross-border tax.

Can a Tax Specialist Help In Cross-Border Tax Issues

If you are having issues related to cross-border tax, then it is a good option to opt for the services of a tax specialist to help you out. It is not a possibility for a layman to know all the details with regard to any tax structure and that is the main reason why there are experts in taxation who will be aware of the tax issues and the various ways to avoid tax issues. One has to remember that dealing with taxes is the job of a tax specialist and therefore the expert will be aware of almost every aspect of taxation that he is an expert on. The main reason why we don’t find an expert who is a specialist in all taxes is due to the fact that taxation is not easy to master.

What to Look Out for While Hiring a Tax Specialist

There are a few things that one has to look out for while hiring the services of a tax specialist. The reputation of the tax expert has to be checked and customer reviews of the firm or the expert will have to be analyzed. Ensure that the person is an expert in the taxation method that you are opting for as you cannot find a tax expert who specializes in all forms of taxation. The fee of the expert and the savings that he will be able to provide you has also to be considered.

Who Are Considered As Non-Residents In Canada?

The term non-resident has a different context to it when it comes to the laws of taxation. Canadian taxation of non-residents is applicable only if you are classified as a non-resident for tax purpose. Generally, you are considered as a non-resident in Canada if

• You do not have a significant amount of residential ties in Canada and you are someone who is living outside Canada throughout the tax year,

• You do not stay for more than 183 days in a year in Canada and also do not have residential ties of importance in Canada

• You are a tax resident of another country that has a tax treaty with Canada, and the terms of that treaty deem you to be a non-resident.

Only if you fall under one of the categories that have been stated above, you will be able to use the Canadian non-resident taxation option.

How to Get to Know More about Canadian Non-Resident Taxation

If you want to know more about Canadian taxation of non-residents, you can have a look at the official website of the Canadian Revenue Agency or search online for an explanation that may be easier to understand for you. It is however a better option if you could talk to a consultant who specializes in Canadian non-resident taxation as the consultant will have a lot of expertise and experience in the tax laws that will be present. As consultants who specialize in non resident taxation, they will have valuable information on the recent laws and the laws that are expected to come in the following years. It is always better to plan for the future as you would not want to end up in trouble after a few years. In addition, you should never rely on advice provided by the CRA without obtaining independent advice as well.

Should I Hire a Tax Expert to Help Me with Canadian Non-Resident Taxation Related Issues?

If you are facing any problems with the Canadian taxation of non-residents, then it is a good option to seek the services of a tax expert who has specialized in dealing with non-resident taxation issues. Such tax experts will have very good knowledge of the various problems that arise due to Canadian non-resident taxation and also the options available to you to get over the issue you are facing currently. But it is very important to select a tax expert who has the expertise and also the experience in handling such issues as problems related to non residents can get ugly if not properly handled.

What Is Income Tax?

Income tax is the tax that is levied on the money that people earn and has to be paid to the national government. The term income is something that is looked at a different context in taxation and depending on the country; this context is also bound to change. There are a lot of different types of income tax systems that are being used all around the world and the way income is taxed is a lot different from one country to another. In some countries, only personal income is taken in the purview of income tax, and in some countries profit that is made by a company owned by the person is also taken into consideration for income tax. Income tax is something that you can’t avoid and therefore it is better to hire a tax expert to help you with income tax.

Canadian Income Tax

• Canadian income tax is considered to be the major contributor to the revenue of the Government of Canada.

• The collection of personal income tax is considerably higher than the collection of corporate income tax.

• The federal government of Canada collects the personal income tax on behalf of all the territories and provinces in Canada except Quebec.

• The corporate income tax is not collected in Alberta and Quebec territories by the federal government.

• The federal income tax system comes under the administration of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

• Personal and corporate Canadian income tax that falls under federal income taxes are levied under the provisions of the Income Tax act.

• The territorial and provincial income tax are levied under the provincial statutes that are present in the different territories.

• The Canadian income tax system is based on a self-assessment model.

• The tax liability is assessed by people and then it is filed as a return to the CRA.

• The CRA then will assess the return filed and correct them if any errors are found.

Why Hire a Canadian Tax Expert to Help You with Taxes

Taxation is a complex process and it involves a lot of knowhow on the policies and rules that exist in any taxation policy. If you are looking to file your income tax return with the CRA and do not want any issues to come out of it, you can look at hiring a Canadian tax expert to help you file your income tax return. A Canadian tax expert will be well versed in income tax provisions and will be able to file your income tax returns a lot faster and also without obvious mistakes.

What to Be Aware of While Hiring a Tax Expert?

If you are planning on hiring a Canadian tax expert to help you in filing your income tax returns, there are a few things that you must look at before you do so. Always hire tax experts who have a good reputation as they will ensure that you will not have any issues related to income tax after filing your returns. Reputed tax experts will have the expertise and the much needed experience to get the income tax return filed correctly and on time. Cost of hiring a tax expert should not deter you as you may be able to save a lot more through tax planning advice that a tax expert will give you.

What Is Taxation All About?

Taxation is something that is prevalent in all countries and it is the revenue generator for governments to carry out infrastructure projects, development projects and projects that will help in developing the country. To generate revenue, there are taxes that are levied upon the citizens and the companies in a country based on their income and profits. Taxes are basically of two types and they are direct and indirect taxes. Direct tax is the tax that you pay directly to the government, for example income tax and indirect taxes are those that you will pay for the products and services you buy or utilize. The indirect tax amount is included in the cost of the product or service and this tax will paid to the government by the company or the service provider. There is a lot more when it comes to taxation but the nuances of taxes are best explained by tax experts.

Canadian Income Tax

• In Canada, income tax generates most of the annual revenues that are earned by the Government of Canada.

• Personal income tax collected is much more than the corporate income tax collected in Canada.

• Canadian income tax is levied under the provisions of the Income Tax Act of Canada and the tax collection is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

• As in many countries, the income tax system in Canada is based on self-assessment. The taxpayers of Canada assess their income themselves and identify their tax liability. Then the same is filed as an income tax return with the CRA.

• The CRA then analyses the return filed and will correct it if any obvious errors are found.

There are ways to save income tax in Canada, but for clear information on that you might want to consider the option of hiring a Canadian income tax expert to help you with it.

Canada-US Tax Treaty

• There is a Canada-US tax treaty that has been signed by the two countries with respect to Taxes that are levied on income and capital.

• The Canada – US tax treaty was first signed in September 1980 and there have been a few amendments to it over the years.

• Amendments were made to the Canada-US tax treaty in 1983, 1984, 1995 and 1997 to ensure that both governments were not subjected their citizens to double taxation and to prevent citizens from tax evasion.

Why Utilize the Services of a Canadian Income Tax Expert?

Though the income tax calculations in Canada seem to look simple, there are a lot of small intricate adjustments that can be done while filing your Canadian income tax. To help you in knowing where you can save on taxes, get the services of a Canadian income tax expert who will have good knowledge and experience of Income tax laws in Canada. If you do not have the time to prepare the tax return on your own, a Canadian income tax expert will get it done for you correctly and also in less time. Above all the tax expert can help you by saving you on what you pay as taxes not just for the current year, but also help you with tax planning for the years to come.