Canadians Living in the U.S.

Key questions often asked by Canadian expats now living in the USA

• My Canadian investments are ‘frozen’ and my Canadian advisor does not understand US or crossborder issues and can’t provide advice. How can you help?
• What are the financial, tax and estate implications of owning Canadian investments while resident in the USA?
• How can my US investments be managed collaboratively with my Canadian investments?
• How should my RRSPs, LIRAs, TFSAs and RESPs be handled?  Should I be closing some of these?
• Can I unlock my LIRA now that I’m a non-resident?
• How do I manage currency risk if my portfolio is mostly in Canadian Dollars which have been weak relative to USD?
• How do I migrate my Canadian dollar portfolio methodically into a USD cash-flow producing portfolio?
• How do I avoid PFICs and invest for tax efficiency with the IRS in mind?
• How do CPP and OAS pensions work for US residents, and how does it fit in with Social Security benefits?
• Should I invest in Traditional or Roth IRAs?

The Value of a Collaborative Approach

Pacifica Partners, a Fiduciary, has specialized in cross-border investment management for US expatriates since 2008.  Over the years, we’ve grown to specialize in providing collaborative management for expats with US and Canadian portfolios.

Pacifica has Canadian expatriate clients in over 30 US states.

US residents with Canadian investment accounts often have special reporting requirements and constraints for how their investment portfolio should be managed. 

We can open, transfer-in and manage many types of accounts that include, but are not limited to:

• RRSP, TFSA, RRIF, LIF, RRIF and RESP accounts
• Canadian brokerage accounts
• Mutual fund or exchange-traded-fund (ETF) accounts with PFIC issues, and how best to evolve these into a tax-efficient portfolio.
• Trust accounts
• Other complex and unique crossborder investment portfolios

We can advise and manage the following for US residents:

• IRAs (Individual Retirement Account) that include Traditional, Rollover, SEP, Roth IRAs, Inherited or Beneficiary IRAs
• Individual 401ks
• Living Trusts
• US mutual fund and brokerage accounts

We pay attention to the nuances of currency cycles, interest rates as well as the relative performance of US, Canadian and Global stock and bond markets and their fundamentals when managing portfolios for clients that include US and Canadian accounts.  

Learn more about our investment philosophy and process here.

Getting You Organized

We have expertise in getting clients financially organized with a crossborder investment plan, how best to get started with US retirement and investment accounts, and how these should all fit together.

Further, we can help clients figure out how best to take their income in retirement.

• Which accounts to draw from first, and when to take pensions.
• Targeting a certain tax bracket or income level, or otherwise collaborating with your tax accountant’s recommendations.
• Pension planning for employer pensions with Social Security, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS).
• Incorporating estate planning objectives into long-term planning
• Running sophisticated retirement income projections and incorporating different scenarios and strategies.

Read our article on Social Security, CPP, OAS and the impact of the Windfall Elimination Provision here.

Our Commitment to Transparency

We provide an online platform where clients can view all their US and Canadian account holdings and balances on one screen, so that you can see your total portfolio in CAD or USD.

You can also generate a variety of reports to review and measure the following:

• Your rates of return in USD or CAD.
• Gain-Loss and Income reports.
• Account statements
• Activities such as buys, sells, deposits, withdrawals, billing, etc.

Each client is provided with a personal secure online document vault where we organize your reports, invoices, statements and key documents by tax year for easy reference and reporting.

Tax Reporting Help

We work closely with our client’s accountants as well as their tax or estate lawyers to ensure that all reporting requirements are met. This can include:

• Translating Canadian investment gain-loss reports to an IRS reporting format.
• Translating US investment gain-loss reports to a CRA reporting format.
• Providing FBAR and reports at no extra cost.
• Detailed invoicing
• Keeping all your statements and reports organized by tax year.
• Taking feedback from your accountant to ensure our reports are aligned with their expectations, to minimize the cost of filing.

Estate & Long-term Planning

Throughout our decades of leadership within cross-border investment community, we have addressed a wide range of crossborder estate planning concerns.  

We have forged connections with capable, independent estate planning, trustee services which complement our own and can provide the following:

• Helping you put together an estate plan by connecting you with experienced independent crossborder tax and estate planning professionals and working with them to ensure yours and your family’s long-term investment objectives are carried out.
• Connecting clients with independent Trustee services, Professional Executors, Power of Attorney and other appropriate legal and agency services.

Please feel free to contact our team to schedule a conversation.