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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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 Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:37 am Post subject: |
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| ThePoet wrote: |
Do yourselves a favor. Hire an accountant in Canada when you come over here, or even get someone to do it for you if you are already here. I was told about 15 different stories when I first got here and I was terribly confused. When tax time came around six months after I arrived here, my accountant asked me two questions
1. Are you planning on staying in Korea more than two years?
(yes)
2. What has your Canadian income been up to the time you left the country?
(damn little)
Then she made the request to Revenue Canada on my behalf and informed me that now that I was a non-resident, Revenue Canada would take a very dim view and apply penalties if I decided to come back to Canada permanently before the two years were up, unless Korea was in a war or something.
Total cost of getting everything handled the right way - $160.00 and that included filing my last canadian income tax statement. for $160.00 it is worth it for peace of mind and no stress.
Poet |
When did you get here? I filed for non-residency in 2001 and received it. Never had to pay an accountant or anything. And I have been back to Canada since and never had a problem. |
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Daechidong Waygookin
Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:08 am Post subject: |
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Geez, I guess you people dont read.
You didnt get non residency. You got an OPINION about your status that has no legal standing.
Why bother applying when you cant get anything that has legal standing anyway? That opinion can be overturned. All you got is an opinion, and you put yourself on the radar. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:46 am Post subject: |
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| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
Geez, I guess you people dont read.
You didnt get non residency. You got an OPINION about your status that has no legal standing.
Why bother applying when you cant get anything that has legal standing anyway? That opinion can be overturned. All you got is an opinion, and you put yourself on the radar. |
Well, I am registered on my tax forms and all other such legal documents as an non-resident. But I guess you know better than the government. |
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Blind Willie
Joined: 05 May 2004
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| wait, if none of us has paid into the national tax system via our paycheques since we werent working in Canada, does it really matter? |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 8:00 am Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
Geez, I guess you people dont read.
You didnt get non residency. You got an OPINION about your status that has no legal standing.
Why bother applying when you cant get anything that has legal standing anyway? That opinion can be overturned. All you got is an opinion, and you put yourself on the radar. |
Well, I am registered on my tax forms and all other such legal documents as an non-resident. But I guess you know better than the government. |
Daechidong Waygookin didn't put it very elegantly ("I guess you people don't read..."), but that doesn't take away the fact that he's correct.
| ThePoet wrote: |
When tax time came around six months after I arrived here, my accountant asked me two questions
1. Are you planning on staying in Korea more than two years? |
Just to reiterate (chronicpride mentioned it two days ago in this thread, but it's worth repeating) and beat back the misinformation, as of Dec 2001 the "two year rule" has gone the way of the do-do. Either your accountant asked you that question before 12/01, or he was unaware of the changes.
| Blind Willie wrote: |
| wait, if none of us has paid into the national tax system via our paycheques since we werent working in Canada, does it really matter? |
In theory, yeah. If they decided your ties to Canada were significant enough to make you still officially a resident, they could demand you pay income tax on what you're making in Korea, less whatever you're paying to the Korean gov't for their income tax (this gets subtracted because of the tax treaty). Korean income tax is far lower than Canadian taxes, so you'd be on the line for the difference.
I suppose you could get your boss to whomp up a low number for your income ("we pay that silly waeguk 20,000w and pizza a month..."), as it's not like he submits T4 slips to the Canadian government, but they could either ask the Korean gov't for your income (they may be entitled to request this with the tax treaty), or they could say, "look, we know teachers make around x, so don't lie to us. Please pay Y."
You could also claim you were camping in Suwon for the two years you were here. "Work in Korea? Me? Never!"
This is all in theory though. Can't speculate on how likely it would be that they'd investigate a Canadian teacher's income from Korea this closely. But they *could*.
And as with any talk about tax stuff, *read the official current government documents*. They're online and they're linked in the other big thread on this topic. Trust what they say over what anyone on message boards, including me, tells you. |
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chronicpride
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 9:13 am Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
Geez, I guess you people dont read.
You didnt get non residency. You got an OPINION about your status that has no legal standing.
Why bother applying when you cant get anything that has legal standing anyway? That opinion can be overturned. All you got is an opinion, and you put yourself on the radar. |
Well, I am registered on my tax forms and all other such legal documents as an non-resident. But I guess you know better than the government. |
This is what prompted me to file NR through an accountant, 2 years ago. It's important enough to me and my financial planning to get thorough and concise answers from qualified individuals.
While I agree that one's non-residence status is subject to a case-by-case opinion, following the detailed framework of the NR process is more about ensuring that you are stacking the right facts and presenting a solid case for successful non-residency, plus, in my case, having the right information about NR taxation issues concerning rental property and investments. I've researched the CCRA website and accumulated enough of my own info, as much as the next guy, but my future tax and investment matters were important enough to me to seek the advice of a qualified accountant, and not ESLCafe advice. I'd advise anybody else to do the same. (However, if you are 5+ years abroad, I wouldn't bother with filing. The risk of CCRA challenging your NR status tends to go down the longer that you are overseas.) |
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phaedrus
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Location: I'm comin' to get ya.
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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I would like to have a professional work on my case for me, just for peace of mind, but I find it hard to believe that the Canadian government could consider me a resident.
I have no property in Canada except for a couple of bags of clothes and some books at my parent's house.
I will be in Korea for at least seven years.
I currently have no investments in Canada, although I do carry some Canadian debt.
My wife is Korean, and she and my children live in Korea with me. I have an F2 visa, which is a family class resident visa.
I pay Korean tax.
I don't have Canadian provincial health insurance, or a Canadian driver's licence.
Yet, bureaucracy never fails to surprise me. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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| The Lemon wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
Geez, I guess you people dont read.
You didnt get non residency. You got an OPINION about your status that has no legal standing.
Why bother applying when you cant get anything that has legal standing anyway? That opinion can be overturned. All you got is an opinion, and you put yourself on the radar. |
Well, I am registered on my tax forms and all other such legal documents as an non-resident. But I guess you know better than the government. |
Daechidong Waygookin didn't put it very elegantly ("I guess you people don't read..."), but that doesn't take away the fact that he's correct.
[. |
However regardless if you have an opinion that says "We do not consider you to be a resident of Canada" then for all intents and purposes that opinion stands. Mr. Daechidong Waygookin seemed to be saying (and I apologize in advance if I am wrong) that Canada could change its mind at any time on a whim. The letter I received points out that this opinion is subject to change IF the information I provided is incorrect or at a later date should change. I suppose they could reverse the opinion on nothing more than a whim...but that sounds highly unlikely and in that case why make the option available in the first place?
Of course it is an opinion. The problem with making it a legally binding decision would be that people would come over here, declare they are never coming back and after making some money, do come back. When asked why, they could claim they changed their mind. When asked to pay taxes they could then point to the decision (the hypothetical one I am proposing in this hypothetical situation here). Revenue Canada would likely then have go to court to get it overturned or something. That's probably the main reason they don't give it legal status.
Regardless, in declaring non-residency you don't have to worry about "being on the radar" or somesuch stuff. As for everything else Mr. chronicpride made some good points. Lay the framework and make a strong case by cutting all primary ties (secondary ones too, if you want to be doubly sure). In my case all I have is a passport. |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 1:29 am Post subject: |
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No disagreement with the above, UM. If down the road they decide to audit you and ask questions about your Korea days, the opinion they sent you would be something useful to wave at them: "back in October 2003, I submitted my facts to you, I asked what you thought and you said I was ok..." Definitely a helpful piece of paper to have in that eventuality.
The quibble I have is when people call the solicitation of that opinion from Revenue Canada "declaring non-residency", or "I filed for non-residency in 2001 and received it". You're not actually declaring or filing for anything, you're saying, "here's how my affairs stand right now, what do you think?".
Filling in that form may be beneficial but is in no way an obligation or requirement to be considered a non-resident in the eyes of the Canadian tax people, and this is a misconception that people have taken away from these discussions in the past. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:11 am Post subject: |
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| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
| bucheon bum wrote: |
sometimes its good to be an american  . |
I dont have to even bother filing. You do. |
ah yes, that piece of paper that is about 4 inches long and takes one minute to fill out.
OH NO! |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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What's all the fuss about? I never filed for non-residency, I just claimed it on the last Canadian income-tax form that I filled out. :lol
That was back in 2001, or was it 2000? 
And they approved it. No questions, ifs, ands, or buts.
However, I own no property in Canada and I don't plan on returning there within the next 5 years.
I do have a Canadian bank account and a Canadian Credit Card.
What this means when I do return is that I have to apply for residency status again.
I am wondering though, if I could return to Canada for say 5 months and hold a summer job and still maintain my non-residency status?
Hmmmm.  |
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