There are many complications that can arise when relocating across the border. If you’re not careful, you could find yourself paying thousands of dollars in unnecessary taxes and fees. We have made it our mission to help people avoid potentially costly mistakes when navigating their cross-border finances.
If you are an American living in Canada, your retirement accounts may be exposed to:
Forced Liquidation
Double Taxation
Redemption Fees
If you are a Canadian living in The United States, your retirement accounts may be exposed to:
Deemed Disposition
RRSP & TFSA not recognized
High Liability Exposure
Loss of Healthcare & Insurance
Complex regulations govern financial interests on both sides of the border. Retirement in Canada for US citizens is an attractive option, but requires specialized knowledge of Canadian and American regulations to minimize tax exposure. If you are transferring assets across the border, you could likely benefit from an advisor with experience in the field. Contact us today to speak with one of our cross-border financial advisors.
Who We Helped
EXECUTIVES RELOCATING FOR WORK
PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES
SNOWBIRDS
CANADIAN INHERITING A U.S ACCOUNT OR VICE VERSA
How We Help
IRA, Inherited IRA or Roth IRA
If you now reside in Canada and have been asked to transfer your IRA account or have inherited an IRA from a family member or relative in the US, then we can help. We are licensed both in the US and Canada which provides the unique ability to offer Individual Retirement Account “IRA” solutions to Canadian residents. This gives investors in Canada the ability to be patient with the IRA distribution decisions and also benefit from the flexible IRA beneficiary options. Contact us for help and your free IRA information brochure.
401K
If you now reside in Canada and have 401(k), SEP, Simple or other group retirement plans in the US with different advisors in different jurisdictions may cause your retirement portfolios to become poorly diversified or out of balance. So, having a team of advisors who can manage investments on both sides of the US and Canadian border creates a solution to ensure investments are properly diversified and balanced and a financial plan that can continued to be added on to vs having to continue to rearticulate over and over again if you find yourself in this situation again in the future. To learn more about our cross-border services please contact us.
Canadian Inheriting a US Account or Vice Versa
If you’re a Canadian inheriting a US account you may be exposed to:
- US estate tax liabilities
- Inability to access your inherited IRA or Roth IRA
- Freezing of your inherited US accounts for over 18 months
- Advisors may be unable to manage estate accounts.
- Liquidation fees and taxes
Meet Our Dedicated Cross-Border Specialist:
Meet Our Dedicated Cross-Border Specialist:
Chris Mills, CIM, BComm
FINANCIAL ADVISOR
“Financial decisions can be stressful and complicated, and as a Financial Advisor I feel that I have an incredible opportunity to enhance the lives of my clients and their families. Your financial future will dictate your goals and your dreams, and I remain committed to all of my clients that I will work as hard as I can to make those dreams a reality.”
Video Transcript
Crossing the border for life and work often means cross border tax issues, especially when it comes to your US retirement accounts. US retirement plans reserve the right to kick you out of the plan due to non-residency in the US. They will often only give you 30 to 60 days to transfer your account. If your account doesn’t get transferred out in that time frame, your holdings will be liquidated, you will pay the tax and a penalty and you will get a cheque in the mail for the remaining balance. The bad news is that those taxes and penalties can be incredibly steep with 10% penalties and the standard withholding tax reaching up to 30%. That could be a 40% hit to your retirement account.
Fortunately there are options. My name is Chris Mills, I’m a financial advisor based in Vancouver BC that specializes in helping clients that have financial interests on both sides of the border. This includes Americans living in Canada with 401ks or IRAs. As the co-founder of Long-Term wealth management partners and a as member of Raymond James USA, I am licensed and registered in both Canada and the USA. I help people develop cross border financial strategies every single day. There are options available for you, feel free to reach out, I’d love to see if we can help you too.