Any Canadians In Here? Trying to Figure out Tax/Immigration Shit

I

Island

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Jun 25, 2012
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I'm a permanent resident here in Canada, and I'll be eligible to apply for citizenship in May.

I'm wondering if opening a Hong Kong corporation would that jeopardize that? I'd still be paying personal income tax to Canada obviously since I'll be living here most of the year(since I'll need to do that to get my citizenship). I'm just wondering if they're gonna refuse me citizenship because of that.

Btw, if any of you are accountants/laywers on here with expertise in this area PM me and I'll happily pay for your time with cash or free services to explain this all to me. I'm quite unclear on how I should approach this.
 


as long as you bring those personal tax moneys to canada why would it care how many companies you open, can't get why would it ever jeopardize that.
 
I recently went through the citizenship application process myself and a foreign business presence won't be a problem. The only way it'll be an issue is if you get caught not reporting taxes as mentioned above. The application process is far more concerned with physical absences from the country. Just make sure you're spending as much of the year in Canada to meet their requirements, and try to avoid taking too many or too long of trips as that will be a red flag to them.
 
First, talk with a tax lawyer and an immigration expert, neither of which am I.

My 1/2 cent: Generally, as long as you are not breaking any laws (including any and all disclosure requirements), ownership of a foreign company will not hinder acceptance of a residence application to Canada.

The issue you may have problems with in the future is that income earned by the foreign company may be taxable in Canada due to 'mind and management' rules. Basically, Revenue Canada will tax income of a foreign company if central management and control, in whole or in part, are within Canada. It is much more complex than that (the Canadian rules are based on the UK case against De Beers) so talk with an expert.

A tax lawyer should be able to tell you the important corporate residency requirements (location of board meetings, banking, where important documents are signed, phone and address, location of accountants, residency of directors, etc.) Also, ownership of the corporation can be important (ask a tax lawyer if ownership of the offshore company by an offshore blind charitable family trust* settled by a non-Canadian resident/citizen might help.)

A tight structure can be expensive to set up and maintain so make certain that it will be worth the effort and costs over the long term.


* The trust should ideally be in a different jurisdiction than the company.
 
Thanks for all the answers guys.

I want to make sure everything is done 100 percent legally and accordance with Canadian law so I'll make sure to contact a tax lawyer.

As for why Immigration Canada should know about my Hong Kong corporation, well that'll be source of income and I don't know if its legal to hide that information or not.
 
avatar33 said:
How would Immigration Canada know that you opened a company in H.K. exactly?
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Directly, they wouldn't. Its all the entry/exits on your passport that will alarm them. I was surprised how little they actually have access to in this NSA world where we assume the Government sees and knows everything.

Due to a case of poor timing, my US Passport was up for renewal and wasnt in my possession at the time of my Canadian citizenship test. When I showed up the guy told me I'd have to fill it all this extra paperwork and applications because Immigration isn't able to check the border services records for a person unless they explicitly authorize it. I was pretty surprised by that one
 
As far as I'm aware, Immigration Canada and Revenue Canada aren't linked up very well. Immigration doesn't have access to your tax records / status. One time I hit the border, the officer didn't even know I previously sponsored someone for PR status (which was approved).

Immigration is only going to know about it if you're charged with a criminal act (ie. straight up tax fraud / evasion), but I think it takes quite a bit for the Canadian government to go ahead with a criminal charge for something like that. If they suspect something, they'll try to work it out with you amicably, before going the criminal charge route. Talk to a lawyer as to whether or not you'll be committing that by setting up a HK company.
 
avatar33 said:
How would Immigration Canada know that you opened a company in H.K. exactly?
Click to expand...

Leaks tend to happen:
Offshore Leaks, Tax Haven Secrecy Revealed | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Governments Agree to Share Tax Records | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Liechtenstein's Shadowy Informant: Tax Whistleblower Sold Data to the US - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Swiss Bank Whistle-Blower Hervé Falciani Gets a Reprieve - Businessweek


The odds are against them finding out. The main issue to be concerned about is Revenue Canada finding out information and then stating that the applicant for residency made a false declaration in his application under oath. It used to be (and still is, I believe) that a naturalized citizen of Canada could have their citizenship revoked if they were convicted of fraud and that fraud was relative to their original entry into Canada and/or their application for citizenship.
 
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