A2 Visa / Property Purchase

Thanks greslogo.

All of it is in either a non-registered account, TFSA or being held in trust. Accounts aside from the trust are self administered. (Trust isn't for obvious reasons)

TFSA has REITs in it. Need to wait another year to do max it out because in the trust account I have a significant investment in REITs that I'd like to shield as much of as possible due to the nature of the taxation. I get a distribution self selected in a bit over a year via Trust where I'll take a significant amount of REITs to move into my TFSA. Unfortunately while the TFSA is a great feature it isn't going to provide me by any means enough to live on. I'd think the TFSA may generate 5k in income per year without factoring in Capital gains. It's a start but the bulk of the income will have to come from the non registered investments in which originally I'll have to have a higher % of capital gains and as I receive more distributions will take a higher % of dividends and less and less capital gains.

No RRSP's. I do have RRSP space with that said. I could only at best move a fraction of the monies into RRSP. Working career is very short compared to investment. Potentially useful but would only assist in moving a fraction of it. I'm probably 35 years from real retirement age to put it into perspective. Was self-employed all but a year in my time working.

I'll speak with my accountant after my corporate return is finished up to discuss the issue. I did assume the PR would be an issue but it appears based on what you are saying I may be wrong in regard to that.

I did see on the website you can apply for a tax assessment. I wIll need to speak to my accountant before doing that. I do plan to maintain my bank account, drivers license, car, furniture, art collection etc. But going to be tricky as I'm obviously going to lose my OHIP coverage and will no longer have any significant residential ties with Canada. "Significant residential ties to Canada include:
a home in Canada; -
a spouse or common-law partner in Canada; and
dependants in Canada;"

Ok... Clearer now. There is no 100% solution that i can see and i am not going to ask you how much capital you have and how much RRSP and TFS room you have. And how much you will draw on an annual basis.

Concentrate on shielding as much as you can in those 2 vehicles. This may only work for a few years.

In our case, after we buy the next house, we'll probably be burning through cash for the next 2 years, renovating, etc.

After that, I expect to be shielding half my annual income in an RRSP or up to what i don't have to pay taxes on. ....i have lots of room, but that will only be good for about 3 years.. The wife has little room for RRSP contributions so we'll find some way to shield more money, when the time comes. Open a TFS for her. Will need to do that before we move to Cuba, I think. Not all that confident.... Without crunching the numbers...lol

that's why they have tax accountants. I, wouldn't, necessarily, stop at your accountant. I was self employed for many years. My accountant, formerly a manager at the CRA, was good but there were things he really didn't know much about. I ended up finding a way to move securities between a non registered account and a registered account without losing the capital loss, for example, and shielding any capital gain.

I own only one REIT, since you mentioned REIT's. Not important.

Oh, the preloaded debit card i use is from Desjardins. VISA branded. There are others from major Canadian banks. RBC doesn't offer one. BNS does.... Don't recall the other banks. You can always find one. They do exist. If not your bank, setup an account at one that does. Get one of these cards and do electronic transfers while in Cuba. That's what i do. My primary bank is RBC.

Btw.... Don't underestimate how much it will cost you to renovate, whatever you end up buying.

30-40,k cuc in Holguin will buy you a decent house but it will need work.

I know someone who just built a second floor on top of her in-laws place. Once everything was said and done, it was about 80k cuc. Very nice.... Canadian standards... Included all stuff bought in Cuba.... refrigerator, furniture, tv's etc.

In our case, were sending a container down with personal possessions. ,$3k cad for, only, the shipping.

Re money into Cuba - I may be missing something, but why wouldn't a bank transfer work? From UK we have done this.

Large amounts are held back by Cuban banks. Cuba participates in Fintrac. If you cannot provide evidence that the cash was obtained legally, you'll need to wait awhile before the money is released.

Happened to someone i know earlier this year. He couldn't wait since the cash was to conclude a house purchase. He gave them statements from his personal accounts. It seemed to be sufficient.

How much have you transferred in one go ?

I suspect that transfers over a certain amount would get looked at - and then he would have to draw large amounts of cash, which might also raise questions.

They don't care how much you draw, from what i can tell... That would allow you to transfer < 5k each time. Under Fintrac's radar. Any transfer over that, the bank will have questions.

They don't care how much you draw, from what i can tell... That would allow you to transfer < 5k each time. Under Fintrac's radar. Any transfer over that, the bank will have questions.