Americans moving to canada

Americans Exiting Canada: Understanding the Five-Year Deemed Disposition Rule

American citizens living in Canada for more than five years face an imposed exit tax on unrealized gains.

One of the most common questions we receive from Americans moving to Canada is how to navigate around the Canada Revenue Agency’s five-year deemed disposition rule. Canada assesses an exit tax on any unrealized capital gains inside taxable accounts in cases where the U.S. citizen moves back to the United States after having been a Canadian tax resident for longer than 60 months. Americans moving to canada.

It is important to note that this rule does not apply to any tax-deferred investment accounts or plans.

Some visa holders arrange their date of return to the United States to be 60 months less a day in order to avoid qualifying for this event. But in many cases, this is inconvenient for the corporations that employ them. And it can create personal family hardship, should it occur, for example, in the middle of a school year.

The Canada-U.S. tax treaty requires that non-tax-deferred securities accounts be taxed in the country of the beneficial owner’s residency. Accounts that are transferred to Canada from the United States “in kind” retain their original cost basis (usually the purchase price) for U.S. tax purposes. But a second cost basis—equal to the accounts’ market value on the day the beneficial owner became a Canadian resident for tax purposes—is automatically generated. This can cause confusion, and in many cases erroneous tax reporting, in both Canada and the United States.

Does leaving your accounts in the U.S. help?

In the past, some U.S. citizens would simply leave their U.S. taxable and trust accounts in the United States in an attempt to get around the Canadian five-year tax rule. Prior to 2013, this sometimes worked. The CRA required, but did not rigorously enforce, reporting of unrealized capital gains of all taxable accounts, including those remaining in the U.S.

In 2013, however, the CRA introduced a revamped, more robust version of a form called the T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement, which is somewhat similar to the IRS’ foreign reporting requirements in the United States through IRS Form 8938 and the FinCEN 114. The CRA T1135 form requires a detailed annual accounting of all foreign accounts (including those in the United States) held by a Canadian tax resident. Failing to file this form leads to penalties.