Canadians in USA retiring in Canada

I was just wondering if any of you Canadians out there are planning to go back to Canada to retire. Will we get an Old Age security Pension up there and government Health Care when we return to retire?
Also do any of you have dual Canadian-American citizenship?

I would love to hear from someone. I'm from the Toronto area, studied and worked in Toronto before I took off to Africa, where I lived and worked for 9 years. Then 17 years in USA and I'm still homesick for Canada, probably because I still own a farm there too and my mother lives there.

Isn't that why you want to go back to canada to retire - to get free health care? I would imagine many canadians are going to go back to canada simply for that fact.

No actually, the only reason isn't the health care. It's also for me pension in CA and the fact that I have a home and family there.

You have not mentioned whether you are US citizen or not. Because US taxation is based on citizenship and Canadian taxation is based on residency.

If US citizen, you will have to continue file US return irrespective whether you live there or not.

You will get CPP because there is a totalization agreement between the US and Canada, so you social security payments there count towards a pension here.

The only real snag moving back if you are a long-term US resident is the tax situation, because US citizens must file a US tax return every year, and there is a limit on the foreign tax credit for non-resident US citizens of $87,500. This means if your income is over that amount you get taxed twice on it.

There is also an expatriation tax, so if you are there as a green card holder and surrender it, you can get hit with that (although you need serious US-source income before it becomes a significant factor).

Thanks so much for the info. I am not a US citizen and my US income will definitely not be a serious one.

Has anyone here ever heard of George Green?
What do you think?

Gabi

If you were in US for 17 years and not a citizen, which visa did you use to be in US for 17 years?

green card allows you to stay in the US indefinitely, with renewals of course.

I am not a US citizen and my US income will definitely not be a serious one.

In that case you should apply for US citizenship before you leave if you qualify, because you can get Medicare if you go back to the US. You can always take the oath here in Canada at the local US consultate if you want to move back during the application process.

I don't know how one posts a new question here so I'm going into the reply mode.
New topic - When I retire in Canada are my social security benefits taxed by the Canadian Government?