Who all do you notify when leaving Canada?

[Jadenjewel 9]

Hi,

I'm making a list of all the things to do after my visa is approved November 3rd. (being optimistic)

Who and what agencies etc.do I need to notify.

Is it possible to continue to insure my car here for use when I visit?

Any thoughts would be appreciated my brain is turning to mush at this point...

[AMERICAN/CANADIAN 0]

Hi,

I'm making a list of all the things to do after my visa is approved November 3rd. (being optimistic)

Who and what agencies etc.do I need to notify.

Is it possible to continue to insure my car here for use when I visit?

Any thoughts would be appreciated my brain is turning to mush at this point...

When I talked to my insurance broker here in Canada, she told me I had up to 90 days to get my insurace swaped over to american insurance. But my insurance broker in the US told me I could drive there for only 30 days before I needed to get new insurance/title/whatnot. So thats my two sense on that. Good luck on the third!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Are you bringing your car to the US or leaving it in Canada? If it is staying in Canada and registered in Canada, it can continue to be insured there. If you are taking it to the US, you will need to obtain insurance on it in the state you are residing. The length of time you have to do this will depend on your Canadian insurance company and their guidelines. Your US insurance will cover you and the vehicle if you drive it to Canada and in Canada.

As far as agencies to notify, the big one is the Canadian Revenue Agency, especially if you are receiving GST checks. Honestly, that is the only agency I bothered notifying when I left, so I'm not sure other than that one.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Hugglebuggles

[Jadenjewel 9]

Thanks, I would like to leave my car here so when i visit I have something to get around in. Thankfully its paid for.

Revenue Canada I knew about and canceling memberships and phone etc. I wondered if there were any other things... if anyone has any other words of advice ... thank :Dyou.

[FireKari 4]

You have to call the Canadian Tax Office, and declare that you are out of country so they won't send you things like HST credit, you can keep any money sent to you up until your POE date, any money sent after that date HAS to be sent back to the government.

1-800-267-5177

You could check, cancel, or update things like:

canada tax office - they will update your status to out of country

cell phone

credit cards

bank accounts

utilities

clubs / memberships [optional]

paypal shipping address

post office

Personally I didnt update many things.

Everything goes to my parents house anyways, so they have a bucket they are keeping my mail in,

and my mom calls me if there is mail, her excuse to talk to me.

But yeah, if you really wanted to.

[TimandJoyce 1]

Have you been working at all this year? You'll need to still file your taxes next year, and they will have to send you forms, as I don't believe you'll be able to to do it online. Do you usually pay or get a refund? If you get a refund, you don't even need to panic of having it done by the end of April.

When I left BC, I called GST only to let them know I was leaving in mid August. (Course, they still deposited in mid August ) I waited until the following year, called a number for RCA and they send me two forms. Taxes for my province, and the Emigrant guide, which helps for doing your taxes out of country. The nice thing, (I knew I'd get a refund) they re did part of it, and I got a bigger refund that I was expecting!! Then they took back the GST they gave me , and it became smaller but at least it's paid off.

Other than any of your regular bills, I don't think there's too much you need to call. MSP if you're paying, but in BC I didn't have too, (didn't make enough so I had 100% premium) so I really didn't contact them. If you do pay for your medical, then for sure let them know.

[LeslienScott 6]

You have to call the Canadian Tax Office, and declare that you are out of country so they won't send you things like HST credit, you can keep any money sent to you up until your POE date, any money sent after that date HAS to be sent back to the government.

1-800-267-5177

Great idea! Thank you! I didn't think to call them, so called this morning. The only tip I have is, they want you to call the day of your POE or after as the system won't allow them to predate your nonresidency.

[Jess and Andrew 1]

Great idea! Thank you! I didn't think to call them, so called this morning. The only tip I have is, they want you to call the day of your POE or after as the system won't allow them to predate your nonresidency.

Funny I called them this morning and had no trouble changing my address before POE.

I did however call the number listed on the CRA's website, under "Change you address".

That number is: 1-800-959-8281

You'll probably need your 2009 tax return to verify your identity.

(the "I" in this case is a special guest appearance from none other than Andrew himself!!)

Edited October 25, 2010 by Jess and Andrew

[Colleens 40]

Ensure that you change your address with your former employer so that come tax time, you get your T4. Also if you have any retirement plans, pensions etc with that employer it will ensure you get all the updates. I forgot to update mine when I moved, and they decided to change providers for DPSP and GRSP plans and I didn't get any notice for it.....just a notice from the former service provider that all the funds had been transfered out of my account!! It took me about a month to track down where the money went and sort out several issues they had with the transfer (having my SIN # associtated with someone elses name being one of them....YIKES!)

Also if you have RRSPs anywhere change your address with them so that you get your tax reciepts for tax time as well.

[jken 2]

Also..medicare for your province..i sent them an email - leaving Canada Dec1...but i told them Dec 15...just in case....to keep it active.

[rachel-qc 0]

The reason we have to change the addresses for those is to get mail

or is it actually necessary?

You have to call the Canadian Tax Office, and declare that you are out of country so they won't send you things like HST credit, you can keep any money sent to you up until your POE date, any money sent after that date HAS to be sent back to the government.

1-800-267-5177

You could check, cancel, or update things like:

canada tax office - they will update your status to out of country

cell phone

credit cards

bank accounts

utilities

clubs / memberships [optional]

paypal shipping address

post office

Personally I didnt update many things.

Everything goes to my parents house anyways, so they have a bucket they are keeping my mail in,

and my mom calls me if there is mail, her excuse to talk to me.

But yeah, if you really wanted to.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

It is always a good idea to change your mailing address with the Post Office. That covers those 'Oh yeah! I forgot about notifying them!" accounts. In some cases you will have a final bill to pay or will receive back a rebate from a closed account. You notify them because you are tying up your business and personal affairs in Canada - it is the most sensible thing to do to make sure you leave no loose ends hanging around.

What I did is I made up a form letter basically stating effective XXXX date I would be leaving Canada and requesting that my account with them be closed effective XXXX date (it varied based on what the account was) and a final statement or final rebate sent to me at XXX address. I left lines so I could write in the name of the addressee, and my account number . I then enclosed that with the last statement and payment stapled to it (if there was no statement on the account not to include correspondence with payment) or photocopied the statement and sent a copy with the notification letter if correspondence had to be sent to a different address. I made sure to take photocopies of each document group ( the statement and letter and cheque) which proved useful as one service provider (cable) tried to tell me I had never notified them and owed them for 3 months of service after I left (and someone else had taken over the apartment, even). I sent them a copy of my statement to them with the cheque copied on it - then the copy of my bank statement showing the date they had cashed that cheque. They finally 'agreed' with me.

I kept a bank account with chequing abilities open and used that for final payments and rebates (from insurance and telephone company). This was the same account set up for direct deposit with Canada Revenue Agency so it was easy to get my deposit from my income tax return the following year.

I arranged for a neighbour to keep track on my mail box, just in case, which is also good as Canada Post did make an error and after re-directing my mail for 3 weeks started to deliver it again to my old address (I had a 6 month redirection contract). My neighbour collected my mail and sent it to me and I contacted Canada Post who then credited me with an extra month of re-directed mail.

You will also want to get a copy of your medical records from your doctor to give to your new doctor, especially if you have any sort of a medical condition. Get a copy of your prescriptions as well - you won't be able to use them in the US but your new doctor will see exactly what they are and be able to write ones for you that you can get filled in the US. If you have medical coverage through employment you may wish to get a letter from the provider stating the start and end dates of your coverage, especially if you have a pre-existing condition, as your new insurer may require that.

If you have pets coming with you, get copies of their medical records as well to provide to their new veterinarian.

Notify Canada Pension Plan of your new address as you have paid into CPP and will- eventually - be eligible for a pension. If you have a private pension plan or an employer based plan determine how you need to address that. Some of it is probably locked in but you will need to decide what to do with the rest. They need your new address as well. Your bank obviously needs your new address and you should make sure you can access your account via the internet.

You may wish to get copies of your credit scores as well before you leave, as most Canadian credit does not transfer, however, you may be able to use proof of your scores to get a US provider to check. If you get an American Express Credit card in Canada before you leave you are generally able to transfer that to a US American Express Credit card and get a head start on building your US credit.

[Jadenjewel 9]

Thanks all.

I want to keep a bank account here for when I'm back visiting.

More phone calls and letter writing...