# Self Employment in Canada



## mazecreative (Jun 27, 2016)

Hi there.

My partner and I are looking at options to move from the UK to Canada over the next few years. I am a self employed graphic designer (4 years) and my partner is a PA, though she is hoping to become a self employed copywriter if/when we get to Canada.

The IEC looks like our best option, but as I've just turned 30 this month and my partner is 30 in December, we'll need to get applying ASAP. The FSWC or Self Employment Persons programs look like a possible option too, although this will most likely be something we look at if we can get over there on the IEC.

We have a few very specific questions regarding self employment and taxes in particular, and are hoping to find an emigration or intl business lawyer soon (any recommendations welcome). But first I wanted to see if anyone here can help...

1. As sole traders who work entirely online, if we were working for UK clients only while in Canada, who paid in to a UK bank account and paid UK tax/NI to HMRC (would have to change our HMRC registered address to a family member's), would we be in breach of any UK/Canadian laws, specifically around taxes, or would that affect anything like healthcare while we were in Canada? 

2. I am aware that if you're working in a country (say Canada) for more than 6 months you have to pay tax in the country (Canada), does that still apply if our clients are in the UK?

3. We think it might be less complicated to set up a limited company beforehand, so that we can run both of our work through one company and not have to fill in two sets of paperwork/taxes etc. Would that make things more complicated in reality or mean that we need to pay tax in both Canada and the UK?

Again, I appreciate these are very specific business law queries, but we wanted to check here just in case anyone could clear these up for us.

Thanks!


----------



## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

mazecreative said:


> Hi there.
> 
> My partner and I are looking at options to move from the UK to Canada over the next few years. I am a self employed graphic designer (4 years) and my partner is a PA, though she is hoping to become a self employed copywriter if/when we get to Canada.
> 
> ...


Firstly, if you're a resident of Canada your world income is subject to Canadian tax. The fact that your client(s) are in the UK is irrelevant. If you do, by chance, need to pay UK taxes there is an agreement between the two countries to basically offset, so you would pay whichever country's taxes are the highest. Healthcare would not be affected.
You can setup a limited company with a business lawyer here.
Have you checked if you're eligible for immigration to Canada?


----------



## LMAshton (Oct 10, 2014)

You owe taxes to the Canadian government on any income you earned while you were in Canada regardless of where your client is. Yes, the taxes may be offset by any taxes paid in the UK.

You can incorporate online. It's quick and not expensive. 

You would need to consult a tax accountant to figure out which method would be most advantageous to you and your partner.


----------



## mazecreative (Jun 27, 2016)

Thanks very much for your quick and clear responses!

It makes clear sense that while earning in Canada we would pay tax in Canada, regardless of where our clients or accounts are based. We will register as sole traders (or perhaps a partnership) once we've been in Canada for a few months and inform HMRC.

We have a meeting with a tax accountant in London later today who will hopefully clarify the most advantageous route for us re: limited/partnership/sole trader. We are also exploring the possibility of moving to Spain for a year while we go through the application process, which will no doubt complicate things further.

One final question, specific to the IEC: As a couple, we obviously want to travel together to Canada. Is there any way our applications can be treated as a joint application? From what I understand, after we create and submit our profiles, we each need to be selected from the pool in order to start our applications and we're concerned that we might not both get selected or will get picked at different times. Apologies if I've got this wrong.

Thanks again!


----------



## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

You can come as a couple with the person without an IEC visa coming as if on vacation, but without an IEC visa would be unable to work or enjoy any Government benefits as a legitimate landed individual. When an IEC candidate lands their papers allow them to register with Government.


----------

