AboutDavid Chanter Expertise I have a MA in Political Science and have worked or visited every province and territory in Canada. I work for the federal government as a Media Monitoring Officer where I scan everyday all the major newspapers in Canada. I would be pleased to answer questions on: Canadian politics (federal and provincial); Canadian geography; and, life in Canada.
Question Hello David,
I couldn't find an expert that claimed any knowledge of Canada taxes so I'm hoping you might know something about it. Here's my question:
One of my relatives who is a US citizen wants to move to Windsor Ontario to be close to her sisters. She is retired with an annual retirement pay of about $20,000. Here in the US she does not pay a penny in tax on this because she is retired and the amount is no where near high enough to start paying taxes and actually gets a $1200 refund each year because she owns a home. In Canada would she have to pay any tax on that income?
Answer I too am not a tax expert but what i do know is this 1) all income earned is taxable but with a few wrinkles. There is a tax treaty between Canada and the US so that a person is "credited" with taxes paid in the other country i.e. no double taxation. Also if you are out of the country (Canada) more than six months a year (cumulative - does not have to be continuous) you do not have to pay taxes. Since hundreds if not thousands of Windsor residents commute to Detroit each day, I would suggest that a phone call or visit to any large personal tax accounting firm in Windsor should be able to give you a much more specific answer since I assume this is not a "new" question for them.
