It sucks to be Canadian

[Pravda]

I keep reading about Americans claiming endless stimulus checks while living in Thailand, while as Canadian I had to pay over 1000 bucks on my 6 month rental covid income in 2020. 

 

Can't even use the free healthcare back home. 

 

Anyone else besides yanks livin' the life?

 

How big was your stimulus check/cheque? 

 

 

[Kwasaki]

Try being English here they freeze our pension here living all the time in Thailand .

Same if I go live in  Canada. ????

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Kwasaki

[Leaver]

Interesting OP.

 

Do you wish you were American?  Do you think Canada should be another state of The USA?  Why are you comparing Canada to America?  Is not Canada it's own sovereign nation? 

 

Perhaps you should seek a better accountant. 

[Pravda]

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

 

 

Perhaps you should seek a better accountant. 

 

Interesting comment. 

 

Tony Sopranos accountant? 

[Leaver]

1 minute ago, Pravda said:

 

Interesting comment. 

 

Tony Sopranos accountant? 

 

Don't confuse tax minimization with tax avoidance.  

[Pravda]

1 minute ago, Leaver said:

 

Don't confuse tax minimization with tax avoidance.  

 

There is not much accountant can do when taxing a non resident with Canadian property. 

[Meat Pie 47]

4 minutes ago, Pravda said:

 

Interesting comment. 

 

Tony Sopranos accountant? 

with a name like yours you don't deserve Canadian pension try Russia ????

[Leaver]

4 minutes ago, Pravda said:

 

There is not much accountant can do when taxing a non resident with Canadian property. 

 

Depends who, or what, owns the property.  

[Pravda]

51 minutes ago, Leaver said:

 

Depends who, or what, owns the property.  

Tony Soprano

[Leaver]

13 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Tony Soprano

 

A trust, a company, a family member.  There's a few other instruments and structures that would would achieve a better result.

 

Good luck with Tony Soprano, your accountant.  Be sure to have a good supply of vaseline every reporting year when he sends you the bill.  ????

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Leaver

[rott]

12 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

Don't confuse tax minimization with tax avoidance.  

I always thought they were roughly the same thing. 

It's tax evasion that gets you locked up. 

[Leaver]

11 hours ago, rott said:

I always thought they were roughly the same thing. 

It's tax evasion that gets you locked up. 

 

You can minimize to zero tax, but if you avoid or evade to zero tax then you commit an offence.  ????  

[rott]

34 minutes ago, Leaver said:

 

You can minimize to zero tax, but if you avoid or evade to zero tax then you commit an offence.  ????  

I had always thought that in the UK, pension and (previously) life insurance contributions were perfectly legal forms of tax avoidance. Tax evasion would include non-payment of tax due and making false statements of income. 

[Don Chance]

Health care is not free - it is paid for with taxes. When you live in Canada you pay 13% tax on everything that pays for the health care. If you have cancer or a motorcycle accident and come back to Canada do you think they will just let you die on the street?

 

Are you saying you have a rental property and have to pay tax on that income? Must be tough collecting an inflated rental charge for your investment property worth a million dollars.

Canadians got much more stimulus than American in CERB payments and continued UI benefits for 26 weeks. You could spend your life in Thailand and never pay tax, then come back in your retirement and still get minimum standard of living. Time to give your head a shake.

[Pravda]

5 hours ago, Don Chance said:

Health care is not free - it is paid for with taxes. When you live in Canada you pay 13% tax on everything that pays for the health care. If you have cancer or a motorcycle accident and come back to Canada do you think they will just let you die on the street?

 

Are you saying you have a rental property and have to pay tax on that income? Must be tough collecting an inflated rental charge for your investment property worth a million dollars.

Canadians got much more stimulus than American in CERB payments and continued UI benefits for 26 weeks. You could spend your life in Thailand and never pay tax, then come back in your retirement and still get minimum standard of living. Time to give your head a shake.

 

Everything you wrote makes absolutely 0 sense. I don't even know where to start. 

[OneMoreFarang]

This must be the first time that I read a Canadian complaining that he is not American.

Really? 

 

[Berkshire]

On 3/31/2021 at 4:41 PM, Pravda said:

I keep reading about Americans claiming endless stimulus checks while living in Thailand, while as Canadian I had to pay over 1000 bucks on my 6 month rental covid income in 2020. 

 

Can't even use the free healthcare back home. 

 

Anyone else besides yanks livin' the life?

 

How big was your stimulus check/cheque? 

Yes, the US government can be rather generous.  That's why we're so hopelessly in debt. 

[Leaver]

16 hours ago, rott said:

I had always thought that in the UK, pension and (previously) life insurance contributions were perfectly legal forms of tax avoidance. Tax evasion would include non-payment of tax due and making false statements of income. 

 

Once again, tax minimisation and tax avoidance or evasion are to very different things.  One is legal, the other is illegal, and sometime the lines are blurred between the two.  

[rott]

2 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

Once again, tax minimisation and tax avoidance or evasion are to very different things.  One is legal, the other is illegal, and sometime the lines are blurred between the two.  

Firstly I apologise for using the term life insurance, how frightfully firkin crass of me. As any fule kno it is life assurance, mostly anyway. 

 

But to come back to the point at issue I took professional advice, ie I googled it. Of course I am absolutely correct. 

"tax avoidance is legally maximising after-tax income". 

Tax evasion is falsely presenting figures etc. And tends to lead to criminal prosecution. 

[canthai55]

Canadian Born and Breed.

Applied for no Stimulus. applied for no EI

Re: healthcare - My Doctor tried to get me a knee replacement operation - was told the waiting list is well over 2 years.

Any elective surgery is the same - long wait.

Ah - I miss it !!! 555

[Hanaguma]

I am very glad to NOT live in Justin's Canada these days. Endless lockdowns, confiscatory taxation, and the absolutely insane ridiculous quarantine rules. All for the sole reason of punishing people who dare to travel and enjoy themselves! And many people agree with this idiocy.  I am honestly ashamed for my countrymen.  In their never-ending quest to not be American they have lost their collective soul. 

 

About the only decent thing left is the banking system.  I will leave my investments there but damned if I will ever live there again. 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/3/2021 at 12:06 AM, canthai55 said:

Canadian Born and Breed.

Applied for no Stimulus. applied for no EI

Re: healthcare - My Doctor tried to get me a knee replacement operation - was told the waiting list is well over 2 years.

Any elective surgery is the same - long wait.

Ah - I miss it !!! 555

In the 90s I was working in Saudi and loads of Canadian nurses came to work there because the Canadian government was apparently closing lots of hospitals.

[dbrenn]

I haven't received a penny out of the UK ever since I left the place in 1988. I don't expect anything, and I don't pay tax there so why should I?

 

I've no idea why the US sends taxpayer's money to people who will use it to stimulate a foreign economy. 

[canthai55]

On 4/4/2021 at 1:42 PM, Hanaguma said:

I am very glad to NOT live in Justin's Canada these days.

 

[ramrod711]

Another Canadian born and bred. My accountant has access to my CRA account. Once a year she sends me a PDF of my taxes and I send the government a cheque by registered mail. I have received no stimulus cheques whatsoever and I don't care. Just leave me alone is my motto.

[Pilotman]

Enjoy your citizenship Canadians. We Brits suffer from all the same stuff,  but additionally we get blamed for all kinds of Empire sxxt, even though it was hundreds of years ago and on top of that we have the Northern Ireland BS to deal with.  Then we suffer a toff buffoon as PM. You guys have it easy. 

[canthai55]

On 4/16/2021 at 4:44 PM, Pilotman said:

 You guys have it easy. 

The Grass is always Greener ...

Decline to get into it re: Ireland. But it is IRELAND not ENGLAND is all I will comment

[GinBoy2]

On 4/8/2021 at 10:50 PM, dbrenn said:

 

I've no idea why the US sends taxpayer's money to people who will use it to stimulate a foreign economy. 

Many of us have had that same thought.

 

My only conclusion that because of the millions receiving it, it was just simpler do have a simple algorithm of SSN, did you pay tax and boom, done.

 

To be honest the number of people receiving it is a drop in the ocean in the overall scheme of things

[shdmn]

On 4/2/2021 at 4:06 AM, canthai55 said:

Canadian Born and Breed.

Applied for no Stimulus. applied for no EI

Re: healthcare - My Doctor tried to get me a knee replacement operation - was told the waiting list is well over 2 years.

Any elective surgery is the same - long wait.

Ah - I miss it !!! 555

The key phrase is elective surgery.  If it is life threatening you go to the front of the line and the Canadian healthcare system moves heaven and earth for you.  That's how it is designed to work.  Cost effective and efficient. Putting the limited money where it is most needed.

 

If you also want short elective surgery wait times and don't want your taxes tripling, then it needs to be a public-private system like the UK.

Edited April 18, 2021 by shdmn

[Pilotman]

2 hours ago, canthai55 said:

The Grass is always Greener ...

Decline to get into it re: Ireland. But it is IRELAND not ENGLAND is all I will comment

I agree, indeed it is, it always has been and it should be now, that is my beef about the whole thing.  However, it's off topic, so I will stop now.