Living Outside Canada
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Are you planning to retire soon and want to reside outside Canada? There are several important items you will want to consider.
Are you planning to retire soon and want to reside outside Canada? Perhaps you’ve already retired and are already living abroad. Either way, there are several important items you will want to consider in terms of your taxes and pension. This includes your residency status, pension payments, and communication from ATRF.
Residency Status
Under Canada’s tax system, your liability for income tax in Canada is based on your status as a resident or non-resident of Canada. Your residence status must be established before your tax liability to Canada can be determined.
A determination of residency status can only be made after all the factors have been considered. Your circumstances have to be reviewed in their entirety to get an accurate picture of your residency status.
The residential ties you have or establish in Canada are a major factor in determining residency status. Residential ties to Canada can include:
- a home in Canada,
- a spouse or common-law partner or dependants who stayed in Canada,
- personal property in Canada, such as a car or furniture,
- social ties in Canada, and/or
- economic ties in Canada.
When you leave Canada to settle in another country, you usually become a non-resident of Canada for income tax purposes on the latest of the following dates:
- the date you leave Canada,
- the date your spouse or common-law partner and dependants leave Canada, or
- the date you become a resident of the country to which you are immigrating.
Residential ties that you maintain or establish in another country may also be relevant to residency status. If you require more information regarding residency status please refer to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.
Contact the International Tax Service Office if you want an opinion about your residency status. Then, complete Form NR73, Determination of Residency Status (Leaving Canada).
Send it to:
International Tax Services Office
P.O. Box 9769, Station T
Ottawa, ON K1G 3Y4
Canada
Once CRA has determined your residency status, contact ATRF in writing with the decision.
Pension Payments
ATRF has partnered with Convera to have monthly pension payments for retired members living outside of Canada paid safely and securely into their foreign bank account, almost anywhere in the world, and in any currency.
This means that if you’re living outside Canada or plan to, you won’t need to be paid via cheque or retain a Canadian or American bank account. You can have your pension paid in the local currency, in the country you’re residing in.
Convera has competitive exchange rates and are also subject to American data protection and privacy laws which includes covering the collection, disclosure, and misuse of information for private individuals.
If you are interested in this service, please contact us by phone or email and we’ll get you started on the necessary paperwork. We encourage you to send any documents, including your completed banking forms, through the MyPension Secure Message Centre. Refer to this news article for more information.
Communication from ATRF
If you’re currently living outside Canada or plan to be, you may want to consider updating your communication preferences to go electronic. If you do that, your Pension Information Statements and tax slips will be emailed once a year, along with our quarterly newsletters and our Member Report.
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