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The year you move is the year that costs the most.
A move splits one tax year across two systems, triggers charges that only arise on departure, and opens timing choices that quietly close the moment you land. Almost everything worth doing here has to be done beforehand.
A move, in the order it should happen
Almost everything worth doing sits to the left of the departure date. This is the sequence we work to.
Model the position
Establish what a departure charge would look like on what you currently hold, and what the arrival year does to your rates.
Decide what moves
Which assets to sell before, which to keep, and what happens to registered plans, property and equity compensation.
Fix the date
Residency dates drive both returns. Document the ties you are cutting at the time rather than reconstructing it later.
Reset the admin
Withholding forms for payers, new cost bases, instalments, and payroll registration where it applies.
File both sides
A part year return in each country, coordinated so the credits line up across the split.
Which side of that date a sale, a bonus or a vesting event falls on will usually move the number more than any position taken on a return afterwards.
Where it usually goes wrong
Three timing errors we see repeatedly, all of them avoidable with notice.
Calling us after the move
The most valuable decisions all sit before the departure date. Once the move has happened the work becomes reporting what occurred rather than shaping it, and the difference between those two is usually the largest number on the engagement.
Selling the house at the wrong moment
A move affects home sale exemptions, withholding and clearance procedures differently. Nonresident status changes the withholding and certificate requirements, but substantive relief also depends on ownership, use, designation and qualifying residency years, so selling after a move does not automatically remove US section 121 or Canadian principal residence relief. We review the ownership and occupancy history as well as the sale date.
Options and RSUs vesting mid move
Equity compensation is sourced across the period it was earned, not the day it vests. Moving in the middle of a vesting schedule splits it, and neither payroll department will usually work that out for you.
The forms that usually apply
Which side you are leaving determines most of this. The planning conversation determines the rest.
Leaving Canada
- T1 part year return with a departure date
- T1161 list of properties on emigration
- T1243 deemed disposition of property
- T1244 election to defer payment of tax
- NR73 where residency needs determining
- Provincial credit and benefit wind down
Leaving the US
- 1040 dual status or part year filing
- 8854 expatriation statement where relevant
- 8833 treaty based positions
- Final FinCEN 114 and 8938
- State residency termination
- Exit charge modelling before departure
Arriving
- Opening balances and tax basis in each country. Canada generally applies fair market value entry treatment to certain property; entering the US does not universally reset assets to market value
- W-9 for payers if you are a US person, W-8BEN only where you are not
- Registered plan and 401k treatment
- Withholding and instalment set up
- First year residency elections
- Stock option and RSU sourcing
The date is the decision
Most cross border advice is about reporting what already happened. A move is the exception. For a few months you get to choose when things occur, and that choice moves the number more than any position taken on a return afterwards.
Selling a house, exercising options, taking a bonus, realising a gain, closing an account: each of these lands differently depending on which side of the residency date it falls, and each of them has a date you control.
Once the move has happened the work becomes reporting rather than shaping, and that is usually the largest difference on the whole engagement.
This is why we would rather talk to you in the tax year before you go. A late conversation is still worth having. It just has fewer levers left in it.
How we handle it
The same three stages whatever the situation, with a fixed quote agreed before anything begins.
A call, and a straight answer
Twenty minutes with an advisor who does this every day. You leave with an initial assessment of your likely obligations, the next steps and what the work will cost.
Documents, once
One encrypted upload covering both countries. We chase the missing pieces, so you are not managing two firms.
Filed, and planned forward
Both returns filed and reviewed together, plus a note on what to change before next year.
Questions people moving ask
This is general guidance rather than advice on your situation.
How far ahead should we talk?
Ideally in the tax year before the move, and at the latest several months before you go. That gives room to model the departure position, decide what to sell or keep, and sequence anything with a date attached. Late conversations are still worth having, they simply have fewer levers left.
Will I be taxed twice in the year I move?
Coordinating the returns is what lets the available credits and treaty relief be claimed, which reduces the overlap. It does not guarantee that every overlapping charge disappears, because credits have limits tied to the tax, the income category, the source and the timing, and state rules can differ from federal treaty treatment. Two firms filing independently is where the avoidable double charges appear.
Can I defer the Canadian departure tax?
In many cases yes, by electing to postpone payment until the asset is actually sold, usually with security provided for larger amounts. It is a formal election with a deadline attached rather than something applied automatically.
Does it matter which province or state I move to?
Considerably. Provincial rates differ, and US states range from no income tax at all to aggressive residency rules that keep taxing you after you leave. Where you land is part of the planning, not a detail settled afterwards.
Other situations we handle
A move usually overlaps with one of these.
Plan the move while the choices are still open.
Twenty minutes, no charge, and a written fixed quote afterwards. Evening slots on both time zones.
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