# Canadian and UK taxes in year of moving to UK and beyond



## DS_uk (Oct 11, 2017)

Hi everyone,

Here is my situation and I am really hopping that someone could help me with this.

I am a Canadian Citizen and worked/Lived in Canada my whole life, recently moved to the London, UK on a Youth Mobility Visa.

Year 2016: Worked in Canada for 6 month (Jan to June) and Worked in the UK for 6 month (Jun to end of year)

When the time for my tax declaration came, I was misinformed by a friend (horrible friend) that I do not need to declare my UK income because of a treaty between the countries, so what I did is I declared my Canadian Income for the month of Jan to June.

Now recently I came across some information that I need to declare NON residency in Canada or else I have to pay up taxes on my UK income.

I am still working in the UK and I think I need to take action to make sure I don't get ruined by this.

What are my options? Any advice would be appreciated. 

How certain is it that the Canadian government will find out about my UK income?

Should I declare non residency right away? I have nothing in Canada. Bank account with like 2000$. Driver License and that is it.

Can I let the government know that I forgot to declare non residency from mid 2016?

Is it normal that when I simulated taxes of my UK income in Canada, it came out to me having to pay a very large amount - About 8000$ Canadian on a 24 000£ (38 000$ Canadian) Revenu for 6 month?

If more information is required, I will gladly provide. 

Thank you all!


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## DS_uk (Oct 11, 2017)

Hi everyone,

Here is my situation and I am really hopping that someone could help me with this.

I am a Canadian Citizen and worked/Lived in Canada my whole life, recently moved to the London, UK on a Youth Mobility Visa.

Year 2016: Worked in Canada for 6 month (Jan to June) and Worked in the UK for 6 month (Jun to end of year)

When the time for my tax declaration came, I was misinformed by a friend (horrible friend) that I do not need to declare my UK income because of a treaty between the countries, so what I did is I declared my Canadian Income for the month of Jan to June.

Now recently I came across some information that I need to declare NON residency in Canada or else I have to pay up taxes on my UK income.

I am still working in the UK and I think I need to take action to make sure I don't get ruined by this.

What are my options? Any advice would be appreciated. 

How certain is it that the Canadian government will find out about my UK income?

Should I declare non residency right away? I have nothing in Canada. Bank account with like 2000$. Driver License and that is it.

Can I let the government know that I forgot to declare non residency from mid 2016?

Is it normal that when I simulated taxes of my UK income in Canada, it came out to me having to pay a very large amount - About 8000$ Canadian on a 24 000£ (38 000$ Canadian) Revenu for 6 month?

If more information is required, I will gladly provide. 

Thank you all!


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

You should contact the CRA.

If you plan to be in Britain for a while you should also let them know that you are no longer a resident of Canada for tax purposes.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I've taken the liberty of changing the title of your query so that we can perhaps flag down someone with experience in moving to the UK from Canada.

There are two issues here - as far as I know, there is some kind of process to "declare" that you have moved out of Canada and thus should no longer be considered resident there for tax purposes. Then, there is the further "complication" of the difference between the Canadian tax year (calendar year, I think) and the UK tax year, which runs from April 6th to April 5th.

Anyhow - would anyone with relevant experience or knowledge please jump in here and see what we can do to get DS_uk sorted out? (This IS definitely some way to sort this out. You're hardly the first to move from one place to another and then get tangled up in which taxes to pay and when.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I can offer some limited advice.

Three things:

1. If you really have no assets in Canada then a declaration of non-residency would be relatively simple and straightforward. (One thing to be aware of is that once you are non-resident, you will need to suspend your provincial health insurance, and re-start it when you return. You shouldn't keep it active to use on visits home.)

2. Your tax calculation is probably wrong, in that you should not be double-taxed. Whatever UK tax you paid on the UK income would be credited against the Canadian tax owed. I don't know the relative tax rates but I'm fairly certain you'd owe little or nothing.

3. The Canadian government has no way of knowing about your UK income. They will never find out about it. If you have a bank account in the UK and the balance exceeds a (fairly high but I don't actually know) limit AND you reported yourself a Canadian tax resident on a CRS form when opening the account, then they might eventually learn of the bank balance. But the CRA will have zero information about your UK earnings.

Your best course of action depends on your plans. 

If you are intending to stay in the UK for a long time, file for non-residency. You could either contact the CRA and try to do it retroactively to mid-2016 (which shouldn't be a problem because you shouldn't owe them any money due to point #2, above) or you could just do it going forward, and if you feel super honest file some sort of amended return with the UK income (and tax credits) for 2016, or if you feel less honest, don't mention it and don't worry about it.

If you are intending to return to Canada in a year or two, I would say just skip the non-residency declaration and keep the UK income quiet and nobody will be any the wiser. Say nothing, you wouldn't have owed anything anyway (due to tax credits) so why worry?


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