Canadian Full-Timers

[SabreCanuck]

Hello All,

DW and I have been thinking/dreaming of a life on the road but being from Canada and being restricted to ## of days/year out of the country I'm curious what other Canadian Full-timers may offer for advice as to how you manage that time?

We are thinking we would:
SPRING/FALL in warmer parts of Canada (interior BC?, Southern ON)
SUMMER wherever you want in Canada
WINTER travelling down South. (Nov-Mar?)

What do other Canucks do to manage the restrictions?

I have also heard of Canucks that are gone year round which makes me wonder "what exactly do you lose" if you forget about the restriction and just go. Would love to travel the U.S. year round but not if that means losing major benefits of being Canuck. I have searched a bit on the topic and read pages and pages of the RULES but I have never got a clear understanding of what happens when you break those rules? Does my left arm fall off?? LOL

[RoamingRV]

Here is an excellent article in RVWest's January newsletter - it describes it quite well. My recommendation is to make sure you have the form and document when you enter and leave the US - each time. What is important that you can prove your ties are to Canada.

RVWest-changes to crossing the US Border

[garyhaupt]

Gruffy.."There is a USA/Canada tax treaty .... perhaps you should read it."
Maybe you meant it to be helpful, but it comes across as pretty 'gruff'. No need for that, right?

Everyone is just trying to be helpful.


Gary Haupt

[pianotuna]

Hi,

My understanding is 182 days MINUS 2/3 of the days in the previous year and MINUS 1/3 of the days in the year prior to that.

If you do the carry forward then it appears to me that one can only stay 120 days per year. I would love to be wrong about this.

[Community Alumni]

John & Angela wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Yes you can stay up to 183 days. However if you did so in 2014, 2/3 of those days would count against the 2015 total, and 1/3 will count against the 2016 total. It effectively means one can stay about 120 days per year south of the border.

If you end up paying US income tax, it is quite possible for revenue Canada to deem that you have sold all assets in Canada and require you to pay capital gains. That would be a huge "ouch" for me.

MPI_Mallard wrote:
now the main thing to remember is to keep careful track of the exact time and date you enter the U.S. and when you return into Canada, you are allowed a maximum of 180 CONSECUTIVE days in the U.S and to be clear that's from when you enter until when you leave and don't fool with that as the U.S. can take away your closer connection status ( you should also file your 8840 closer connection form) and make you pay income taxes. We usually give a week for good measure in the event of a problem on the way home.

Red Green:
Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're
all in this together

Hey Pianotuna. Hows it going out there.

Your post is mostly correct, HOWEVER, a Canadian can stay in the US the whole six months every year IF they file the IRS 8840 form statimg they have a closer ties to Canada.

Cheers.

Correct, the requirement is to complete the US IRS 8840 form and you are permitted 182 days; day 183 you are over the limit.

... Eric

[Gruffy]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Yes you can stay up to 183 days. However if you did so in 2014, 2/3 of those days would count against the 2015 total, and 1/3 will count against the 2016 total. It effectively means one can stay about 120 days per year south of the border.

If you end up paying US income tax, it is quite possible for revenue Canada to deem that you have sold all assets in Canada and require you to pay capital gains. That would be a huge "ouch" for me.

MPI_Mallard wrote:
now the main thing to remember is to keep careful track of the exact time and date you enter the U.S. and when you return into Canada, you are allowed a maximum of 180 CONSECUTIVE days in the U.S and to be clear that's from when you enter until when you leave and don't fool with that as the U.S. can take away your closer connection status ( you should also file your 8840 closer connection form) and make you pay income taxes. We usually give a week for good measure in the event of a problem on the way home.

Red Green:
Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're
all in this together

There is a USA/Canada tax treaty .... perhaps you should read it.

[John___Angela]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Yes you can stay up to 183 days. However if you did so in 2014, 2/3 of those days would count against the 2015 total, and 1/3 will count against the 2016 total. It effectively means one can stay about 120 days per year south of the border.

If you end up paying US income tax, it is quite possible for revenue Canada to deem that you have sold all assets in Canada and require you to pay capital gains. That would be a huge "ouch" for me.

MPI_Mallard wrote:
now the main thing to remember is to keep careful track of the exact time and date you enter the U.S. and when you return into Canada, you are allowed a maximum of 180 CONSECUTIVE days in the U.S and to be clear that's from when you enter until when you leave and don't fool with that as the U.S. can take away your closer connection status ( you should also file your 8840 closer connection form) and make you pay income taxes. We usually give a week for good measure in the event of a problem on the way home.

Red Green:
Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're
all in this together

Hey Pianotuna. Hows it going out there.

Your post is mostly correct, HOWEVER, a Canadian can stay in the US the whole six months every year IF they file the IRS 8840 form statimg they have a closer ties to Canada.

Cheers.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Yes you can stay up to 183 days. However if you did so in 2014, 2/3 of those days would count against the 2015 total, and 1/3 will count against the 2016 total. It effectively means one can stay about 120 days per year south of the border.

If you end up paying US income tax, it is quite possible for revenue Canada to deem that you have sold all assets in Canada and require you to pay capital gains. That would be a huge "ouch" for me.

MPI_Mallard wrote:
now the main thing to remember is to keep careful track of the exact time and date you enter the U.S. and when you return into Canada, you are allowed a maximum of 180 CONSECUTIVE days in the U.S and to be clear that's from when you enter until when you leave and don't fool with that as the U.S. can take away your closer connection status ( you should also file your 8840 closer connection form) and make you pay income taxes. We usually give a week for good measure in the event of a problem on the way home.

Red Green:
Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're
all in this together

[garyhaupt]

As you have read...you are limited in how long you can be away from Canada if you wish to maintain certain criteria.

Another thing to be aware of is...a non-US resident cannot take up a workcamping position in the US. Lots of CDN's think they can..and or used to do this, but not anymore. To set everyone's mind to rest, the same applies to Non-Canadian residents in Canada. It is a tax issue, even if money doesn't change hands, but instead is a trade? as in...campsite for X number of hours.

I hope readers note the post from John and Angela, about returning to Spain. We kind of fixate on travel to the US, and much of the concerns we have, as Canadians, is health insurance. As I understand it, health costs in Spain are pretty much in line with our own and if you had a health 'event' while IN Spain, you would pay and then claim it on your own provincial health plan.

Perhaps John and Angela will post that info?


Gary Haupt

[DianneOK]

Moved from Fulltiming per OP request

[John___Angela]

We are Canadian full timers. Generally speaking we spend winters somewhere south, be it the USA or Mexico, although next year we are headed back to Spain for part of the winter.

Canada has no laws on how long you can stay out of the country. It is a free country and you can come and go as you wish. However, your provinceial health care provider may have limits on how long you can be out of the province before they will suspend your health care priveldges. BC, Alberta, Ontario are 7 months, some are shorter some are longer. However most provinces will give you a waver on this every so often if you inform them by letter. Again, each province has its guidelines. As someone else mentioned, travel insurance policies for outside the country will need to know if they are the prime insurer or the secondary insurer. eg, if for some reason you are not covered under your provincial healthcare plan there rates will go up, depending on the Country you are visiting. If you are visiting the US expect them to be VERY HIGH. Not so much for europe or other destinations. Many Canadians leave the country for years at a time and simply get expat policies. Again it will depend on where you travel on how much it will cost. European policies will be a few hundred per month, American policies will be North of 1000. Depending on where you go you may just choose to get a repatriation type policy that will get you back home once you are stabilized. The actual medical care you receive at the other end will be on your dime. eg, you have a heat attack in spain and need a quadruple bypass and 19 days in the hospital, it will cost you about 11500 dollars or roughly what it costs in Canada. Some people will just make sure they have the money in an emergency fund and go from there. Heads up though, in the US this could cost north of 80,000 dollars so self insuring might not be the way to go there.

Take it on a year to year basis and insure accordingly. Don't overstay your max stay in the US though as both US immigration and the US IRS tend to get uppity about that kind of thing. If you feel the need to be south longer go into Mexico for a few months. Great country to explore.

As far as home address goes, many buy an RV property as their home address.

Good luck and have fun.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

TD bank requires a "land description" for your address. A post office box is not enough. Fortunately I was able to use my brother's cottage.

We have lots of accounts with TD Bank and we have an acreage address so they have our address as:

Box No ??
Site ??
RR?
Town, Province Post Code

Been that way with them since we moved out of the city about 11+ years ago, same with all our government stuff. Can't comment on PO Box addresses although Ironically they do put our address as PO Box ?? Go figure.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

TD bank requires a "land description" for your address. A post office box is not enough. Fortunately I was able to use my brother's cottage.

[MPI_Mallard]

We sold our house to our oldest son and we rent the basement Granny apartment so we have a permanent address also we have tenants insurance so our rv lot equipment, sheds, golf carts, boats and such are covered for theft. All our documents, driver's licence, insurance, passport and anything else all has our address on it along with a few bill receipt's for proof and so far we've had no issues at the American border. our health care is through our union so that's set and we leave the first of November and return the third week of April, now the main thing to remember is to keep careful track of the exact time and date you enter the U.S. and when you return into Canada, you are allowed a maximum of 180 CONSECUTIVE days in the U.S and to be clear that's from when you enter until when you leave and don't fool with that as the U.S. can take away your closer connection status ( you should also file your 8840 closer connection form) and make you pay income taxes. We usually give a week for good measure in the event of a problem on the way home.

Red Green:
Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're
all in this together

[RoamingRV]

There are a number of concerns based on your plans.
1. Each province as their own laws as to home base requirements but in BC specifically you need to have a physical address for your driver's licence and your medical. This can also be an issue when crossing the border into the US - they will ask you where you live.

Providing Proof of residency

You must be able to prove your residency if questioned. This is not only for the purpose of your driver’s licence or medical because you may be asked to prove where you live when crossing the border between Canada and the US so have receipts, etc with you just in case.

Your mailing address and your physical address do not need to be the same. It’s okay to receive your mail at a post office box or mailing service who will hold it for you or forward it to wherever you like. There is a fee for the service but it’s worth it rather than bothering a family member or friend.

You may be able to sneak under the radar for awhile and not actually have a home base but if something should happen and you need it in an emergency it wouldn’t be very good if your medical or driver’s licence was refused. It’s better to have a legal home base and keep everything legit. Each persons situation is different and therefore the answer to the question of having a home base may be totally different than other full-time RVers. Do what is best for you and what you are most comfortable with.

2. As to staying the in the US beyond the legal amount could lead to problems with income tax - you may have to pay tax in the US. And yes, as someone else mentioned you could lose your OAS and may not be eligible for medical benefits.

I have posted more information on my blog http://roamingrv.com if that helps.

[SabreCanuck]

DianneOK wrote:
You may want to post this in the Canada forum.......

Sorry, didn't realize there was a Canada forum until now.. Can you move it instead of me reposting or how can I move it?