Financial/Taxation Issues with moving to Australia

Dear all,
My wife and I will probably be moving from Canada to Australia, (Perth), early next year and wondered if any of you who have made the move had any comments on financial or taxation issues relating to the move. Specifically, we are looking at such issues as leaving RRSPs in Canada and continuing to pay into them, leaving our respective pensions accumulating in Canada and paying Canadian tax on that income, any issues surrounding taking large sums of money from Canada to Australia, do we have to declare pension income if we start to access our pensions from Australia and spend it in Australia. We plan to be in Australia for over 6 years, (maybe forever), and will both be employed while in Australia. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, I have nothing to say that can help you out here as my question is EXACTLY as yours. My husband and I are in Alberta and are hoping to transfer there in about 2 years. We will probably go to the Perth area. The one thing that is stopping us is the questions regarding our RRSPs. I did receive some info that you can leave them in Canada, and let them grow, however you can't move the investmest around within the RRSP or change the portfolio or AU will want a bite of it. If you cash them in to transfer to AU RRSPs Canada will charge you a 25% withholding tax. This Info I received from expatriate, a guy out of Calgary. I have yet to find out what would happen if we decided to stay on and retire there. The housing prices and cost of living are starting to scare me off, but it may be a small price to pay for sunshine. Can you let me know if you have found anything out? Thanks Janelle

Janelle,
Sorry, but I have nothing concrete just yet. Our situation is that we currently live in Hawaii and move back to Canada in August. I did talk with our financial guy in Canada last month and he is talking with a tax lawyer to get some information. My advice to you at this stage is to contact a tax lawyer to get some definative advice. If I learn more, I will post it on this website. Ken.

My husband and I will be moving to Adelaide from Vancouver in a couple of months on a 457 visa.

We will leave our RRSP's in Canada and we also have a rental property in Vancouver also which we plan to keep. So far I do not think we will run into any trouble. We plan to return to Canada in 2-3 years.

Cheers
RVC

My husband and I will be moving to Adelaide from Vancouver in a couple of months on a 457 visa.

We will leave our RRSP's in Canada and we also have a rental property in Vancouver also which we plan to keep. So far I do not think we will run into any trouble. We plan to return to Canada in 2-3 years.

Cheers
RVC

HI, I wish you the best of luck! Do you know if you are charged a tax if you bring money into AU to buy a house? I didn't think you would be, but someone who used to live there told me that you get charged on any money brought in. Any idea? Thanks, Janelle

Janelle,
I was just talking with one of my work collegues here who recently, (in the last 5 years), immigrated from the UK to Australia. (I know that Canada and Australia have a similiar tax treaty to the one that Australia has with the UK). He brought almost $250k over from the UK when he first arrived and was not taxed on that as he had earned it in the UK and been taxed on it in the UK. However, any income that he brought in after he arrived could be taxed, (ie pension income from the UK). However, in the case of his pension income, the UK taxed his income at source at around 30%. Had he been eligible for that pension income from an Australian source, he would have been taxed at around 35% so, the Australian government said that, since he had already "paid" the 30% UK tax, they would only require 5% of his pension income. So, to avoid that, he left his pension income in the UK and "accesses" it when he needs it. Again, I recommend you confirm all this stuff with a tax lawyer. Ken.