Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SeoulShakin]

There is a lot I read on here that terrified me about doing my taxes now that I'm home in Canada after two years in Korea. People here led me to believe I'd have to pay thousands of dollars in taxes once I'm home. I thought I'd tell you how simple it was, so as to not have everything on here seem uber-terrifying.

I haven't filed since '05. I didn't fill out the non-residency form. I went to Korea to teach for two years and paid Korean taxes while I was there. I had no permanent ties to Canada (no home owned, no spouse, and no dependents). I had some secondary ties (passport, driver's licence, bank account, credit cards).

I showed up at H&R block today armed with lots of stuff I printed off the net. I had the Canada-Korea tax treaty, which was in my favor. I had the resident vs non-resident information as well. I was armed and ready to defend myself from paying thousands of dollars (which is what some people on here said could happen, and it terrified me).

The lady looked at all my stuff and looked at me and said, "oh honey, who terrified you!". She asked me three questions:
1) Did you or do you own a home in Canada? - no
2) Did you or do you have a husband who was here? - no
3) Do you have kids? - no

Since that was the case, she said we just ignore the fact that I was in Korea for two years, because I paid my taxes there, that's where my home was, and that's the end of it. So all I had to do was file for this past year 2008 when I was home, and that was that. It is going to take a little longer, because it has to go to Ottawa, but other than that, it was painless.

She said the biggest problem people have is going online and reading contradictory material from, unsurprisingly, the government websites themselves. Many people get themselves in trouble by confusing themselves and filling out forms they don't need to fill out. I asked if I had to fill out a non-residency form, and she said no, because it's only an opinion, not legally binding, and only draws attention where it doesn't need to be drawn. She said she's done tons of people's taxes who taught overseas, and it's been simple every time, UNLESS, they had primary ties to Canada (homes, a spouse, children). If you have those ties, she said it can get quite complicated from there, and that's where you can run into owing the man some money.

So for everyone out there with no primary ties, don't let everything you read online terrify you. It's not so bad. I'll actually be getting quite a nice return this year, it will just take a bit longer to get since it has to go to Ottawa.

Hope this helped clear some things up, and relieve some fears. I'm glad I had someone else do my taxes this year, just to reassure me that I was doing everything correctly, and to be sure I wasn't screwing myself over somehow.

So, it isn't always a case of you owing back thousands of dollars. If you have any primary ties, however, you may not have it so simple.

[robot]

That's reassuring. Thanks for the post! ^^

[bobbybigfoot]

I filed my taxes last July when I returned home for a 3 week vacation between contracts. I filed manually and declared myself a nonresident. CRA accepted it no problem (as we have a self-assessing system). It will only be questioned if I'm ever audited (the likelihood is pretty low). CRA did clawback my GST from 2007 as nonresidents aren't entitled to it. Fair enough.

By the way, learning how to file your own income tax will save you lots of cash over the years. It's really quite simple. Worth learning how. I filled out the forms in 15 minutes.

[SeoulShakin]

I usually do file my own taxes, but I had read so much both on this forum, and on the government websites about the tax treaty and residency, that I wanted to have a professional do it to make sure I didn't inadvertently screw myself over. I'm glad I did it this way. Now that I know for sure how it works, I'll continue to do my own. It can be complicated if you don't know how it all works, and fill out things you don't need to fill out. It can also be complicated if you have primary ties to Canada. If you do have primary ties, I recommend having someone do them for you.

I'm just glad that it all worked out. I actually couldn't sleep well last night, I was so worried about some of the things that I had read.

[Faunaki]

[SeoulShakin]

No problem.

I'm just glad that it's all sorted out, and I don't have to worry about it anymore. It's not just Dave's that has confusing information, it's also the government websites that have conflicting information.

Glad that this has helped lessen some panic attacks haha.

[chevro1et]

Great info, SeoulShakin. Thanks for sharing.

[CA-NA-DA-ABC]

that's certainly a relief to hear.

what about a car? health insurance?

[Girlygirl]

I think most people here know that if you HAVE Primary ties such as home, car, children back home (Canada) you need to pay Canadian taxes, that's what happened to me. So those of you who don't have primary ties, don't worry, the CRA is most likely not going to harass you as long as you file income every year. And please don't listen to those who say you don't have to file your world income because wouldn't you want to know if you owe the government the money now than 10 years down the road. Because then the penalty and interest accumulated would be astronomical.

[SeoulShakin]

I didn't have a car. I didn't have private health insurance, but I did have my provincial health card.

I didn't file for '06 and '07. Just for '05 and '08. I was told I don't need to claim my Korean income.

[some waygug-in]

Thanks for your post. It's good to hear from someone who knows what they are talking about for a change.

cheers

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Fantastic - I haven't filed since '00 or '01, I can't remember.

[Girlygirl]

[Kryten]

Thanks for the information. Do you know if you can still claim as a non-resident if you return before the calender year end? For example, you are out of the country from Nov 07 - Nov 08.

[SeoulShakin]

Krysten - sorry I really don't know the answer to that question. I was gone from Dec to March (over two years). That's what they told me to do.

Girlygirl - you only have to file every year if you have primary ties. I didn't, so I didn't have to do that.