People who don't want to read my SOB story and avoid TDLR, this is summed up version
- Canadian citizen and tax resident (currently) who quit the IT job and started to manage my dad's savings/capital/retirement account by trading/investing in stock market like equity and future market. Planned and papertraded for 6 months. Now managing 700k USD ish margin account as well as their retirement accounts for about 4 and a half months now. Once I make enough enough money to pay off my parents and go solo (I'd still manage their retirement accounts as pro bono), I am planning to take all my capital and move to more tax-friendly countries and travel more when covid dials down. By the time I leave, I should have 1 mil+ USD and some personal savings. Most likely have to report income as personal/business income instead of capital gains due to the nature of trades. I hold option contracts for 2-4 weeks and stocks for months.
- Mainly looking at Dubai atm, but I'm open to other tax haven ideas like Malaysia and Caribbean islands. Most likely travel anyway to avoid extreme weather and boredom.
- I need work permit, tax residency, access to local bank account and a stock broker like tastytrade/interactive broker/etc that is pegged to the local bank and would like to find a solid information to help me set it up.
- If using Dubai as an example, would it be better to seek tax/immigration consultancy in Dubai or talk to expensive offshore accountants here in Canada? I'd like to reduce the budget but I don't mind paying extra for peace of mind. Everything must be as legal as possible and even gray areas must have strong arguements and piles of supporting paperwork so it'd be civil issue at worst rather than going criminal.
- How to decide lowering taxes and finding a place that offers decent quality of living, or other factors/wisdom I could learn when structuring my life and business.
- not planning to remove Canadian citizenship as I want access to northern country if global warming really kicks in. Can't go to Russia, and Scandinavian countries are too boring so Canada is the only one left.
- have a criminal record. Arson - damage to property. No prison time or community service. Just reported to probation officer and did some free counseling. Will need 10 years to purge the record via record suspension program.
- Mainly looking at Dubai, Caribbean islands, and Malaysia for tax haven to start off
- As capital builds, I may consider moving to low-tax (but not tax haven) like Singapore, Taiwan, Switzerland, and some European countries like Luxembourg or Ireland... but I'm not sure if it's good idea longterm with EU and all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm a retail trader flirting with future and equity market and I seem to have reasonably good success rate to the point where I am thinking about leaving the country to expedite my capital build. I'd like to make it clear that I will consult an expensive accountants specializing in offshore accounting to ensure I'm 100% everything I do, but I figure it'd be cool to get experiences of people who are already living the life I aspire + additional wisdom/context that are not necessarily thought of until you spend years there.
As a Canadian citizen, our taxation is based on residency not based on citizenship like US counterpart. This means that unless there is a very clever loophole, I will be subjected to Canadian tax system regardless of where that income derives from. Even if I set up a corporation with my partner in tax haven of Puerto Rico (assuming my partner is US citizen and Puerto Rico resident ofc), I am legally required to report how much I own in the corporation and I will be taxed accordingly. As such, it seems like the general trend is to simply leave Canada and declare yourself as non-resident and is recognized by the CRA (it's like Canadian version of IRS) and report your final tax return prior to leaving the country.
I have been window-shopping the tax haven countries but they are tax haven countries for a reason. Caribbean islands are lovely for a vacation but to live for years seem too boring. Islamic nations have more civilization and variety like Dubai, but being imposed to Islamic laws and norm 24/7 + excessive summer heat seems like a downer as well. As such, I think my game plan is to find a residency in a tax haven country and either constantly move around tax havens/non-tax haven countries without breaking my primary residency requirement.
Important thing to declare heads up is that I have a criminal conviction. I was never imprisoned but due to the nature of the sentencing, I will need to wait a decade to purge the record as the conviction was (and that may not be enough especially to countries like USA as some suggest they can still see the record even if it went through record suspension but it's a debated topic). The nature was arson concerning property damage. I was convicted but just had to do some free counseling and report to probation officer once in a while till all requirements expired in 8-10 months. No community service or jail time apart from less than a day in jail between interrogation and receiving promise to appear (kinda like US bail but no upfront cost is needed unless I fail to show up for court/hearing on top of other requirements like not visiting the building involved in minor arson). Now it's just a waiting game till I can apply for record suspension. Seems like as long as I don't do anything stupid in between it's not a hard thing to get. But this may complicate immigration/visa.
I'm looking at Dubai right now and after googling intensively, it seems like the most practical way of getting a residency is via freelance visa (property purchase can get expensive... I guess when I'm rich, it won't matter but I'm not there yet welp lol I imagine I'd have about 1 million USD or so + personal savings small 6 figure amount before I make this exodus). Issue is that it's not clear where equity/future security trading falls in freelance visa requirement. It seems like Dubai freelance visa requires your profession to fall in one of the 3 categories: Education, Media or Tech. If I stretch it, it may fall under Tech as there are lots of analytical stuff involved using computer programs but it's kinda gray and potentially weak argument to say it is compared to other examples like computer programming or website design.
That's one hurdle. Another is if freelance visa application requires criminal background check. UAE embassy in Canada seems like they are busy all day and I'm not sure if I wanna raise the issue especially if they don't check, but that could get dangerous especially since my nature is felony level (indictable offense in Canadian term). If they require it, I may have to try elsewhere. My credit is pretty good however and I have no issues with my local banks. Cash flow can be easily shown via my statements and return data available from the broker company.
I was also intrigued about exploring Malaysia and they operate a little differently as they have territorial tax system, meaning only local income will be taxed. However, I'm not sure how to set up bank account as a non-resident and set up a trading account via brokers elsewhere outside of Malaysia (or if that's even possible and in a relatively safe country) as I will need to prove that I'm a Malaysian tax resident.
I am also aware of the fact that tax and money ain't everything in life. It's hard to grasp them now seeing that I'm so obsessed about financial freedom, but comments and wisdom on that would be greatly appreciated as well.
Thanks so much for your indulgence. Oh, and since it matters in Dubai... I have clean bill of health. Slightly overweight BMI scale-wise, but apart from that I'm good. No STDs. I'm only saying this because my understanding is that medical examination is required for residency.
- Canadian citizen and tax resident (currently) who quit the IT job and started to manage my dad's savings/capital/retirement account by trading/investing in stock market like equity and future market. Planned and papertraded for 6 months. Now managing 700k USD ish margin account as well as their retirement accounts for about 4 and a half months now. Once I make enough enough money to pay off my parents and go solo (I'd still manage their retirement accounts as pro bono), I am planning to take all my capital and move to more tax-friendly countries and travel more when covid dials down. By the time I leave, I should have 1 mil+ USD and some personal savings. Most likely have to report income as personal/business income instead of capital gains due to the nature of trades. I hold option contracts for 2-4 weeks and stocks for months.
- Mainly looking at Dubai atm, but I'm open to other tax haven ideas like Malaysia and Caribbean islands. Most likely travel anyway to avoid extreme weather and boredom.
- I need work permit, tax residency, access to local bank account and a stock broker like tastytrade/interactive broker/etc that is pegged to the local bank and would like to find a solid information to help me set it up.
- If using Dubai as an example, would it be better to seek tax/immigration consultancy in Dubai or talk to expensive offshore accountants here in Canada? I'd like to reduce the budget but I don't mind paying extra for peace of mind. Everything must be as legal as possible and even gray areas must have strong arguements and piles of supporting paperwork so it'd be civil issue at worst rather than going criminal.
- How to decide lowering taxes and finding a place that offers decent quality of living, or other factors/wisdom I could learn when structuring my life and business.
- not planning to remove Canadian citizenship as I want access to northern country if global warming really kicks in. Can't go to Russia, and Scandinavian countries are too boring so Canada is the only one left.
- have a criminal record. Arson - damage to property. No prison time or community service. Just reported to probation officer and did some free counseling. Will need 10 years to purge the record via record suspension program.
- Mainly looking at Dubai, Caribbean islands, and Malaysia for tax haven to start off
- As capital builds, I may consider moving to low-tax (but not tax haven) like Singapore, Taiwan, Switzerland, and some European countries like Luxembourg or Ireland... but I'm not sure if it's good idea longterm with EU and all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm a retail trader flirting with future and equity market and I seem to have reasonably good success rate to the point where I am thinking about leaving the country to expedite my capital build. I'd like to make it clear that I will consult an expensive accountants specializing in offshore accounting to ensure I'm 100% everything I do, but I figure it'd be cool to get experiences of people who are already living the life I aspire + additional wisdom/context that are not necessarily thought of until you spend years there.
As a Canadian citizen, our taxation is based on residency not based on citizenship like US counterpart. This means that unless there is a very clever loophole, I will be subjected to Canadian tax system regardless of where that income derives from. Even if I set up a corporation with my partner in tax haven of Puerto Rico (assuming my partner is US citizen and Puerto Rico resident ofc), I am legally required to report how much I own in the corporation and I will be taxed accordingly. As such, it seems like the general trend is to simply leave Canada and declare yourself as non-resident and is recognized by the CRA (it's like Canadian version of IRS) and report your final tax return prior to leaving the country.
I have been window-shopping the tax haven countries but they are tax haven countries for a reason. Caribbean islands are lovely for a vacation but to live for years seem too boring. Islamic nations have more civilization and variety like Dubai, but being imposed to Islamic laws and norm 24/7 + excessive summer heat seems like a downer as well. As such, I think my game plan is to find a residency in a tax haven country and either constantly move around tax havens/non-tax haven countries without breaking my primary residency requirement.
Important thing to declare heads up is that I have a criminal conviction. I was never imprisoned but due to the nature of the sentencing, I will need to wait a decade to purge the record as the conviction was (and that may not be enough especially to countries like USA as some suggest they can still see the record even if it went through record suspension but it's a debated topic). The nature was arson concerning property damage. I was convicted but just had to do some free counseling and report to probation officer once in a while till all requirements expired in 8-10 months. No community service or jail time apart from less than a day in jail between interrogation and receiving promise to appear (kinda like US bail but no upfront cost is needed unless I fail to show up for court/hearing on top of other requirements like not visiting the building involved in minor arson). Now it's just a waiting game till I can apply for record suspension. Seems like as long as I don't do anything stupid in between it's not a hard thing to get. But this may complicate immigration/visa.
I'm looking at Dubai right now and after googling intensively, it seems like the most practical way of getting a residency is via freelance visa (property purchase can get expensive... I guess when I'm rich, it won't matter but I'm not there yet welp lol I imagine I'd have about 1 million USD or so + personal savings small 6 figure amount before I make this exodus). Issue is that it's not clear where equity/future security trading falls in freelance visa requirement. It seems like Dubai freelance visa requires your profession to fall in one of the 3 categories: Education, Media or Tech. If I stretch it, it may fall under Tech as there are lots of analytical stuff involved using computer programs but it's kinda gray and potentially weak argument to say it is compared to other examples like computer programming or website design.
That's one hurdle. Another is if freelance visa application requires criminal background check. UAE embassy in Canada seems like they are busy all day and I'm not sure if I wanna raise the issue especially if they don't check, but that could get dangerous especially since my nature is felony level (indictable offense in Canadian term). If they require it, I may have to try elsewhere. My credit is pretty good however and I have no issues with my local banks. Cash flow can be easily shown via my statements and return data available from the broker company.
I was also intrigued about exploring Malaysia and they operate a little differently as they have territorial tax system, meaning only local income will be taxed. However, I'm not sure how to set up bank account as a non-resident and set up a trading account via brokers elsewhere outside of Malaysia (or if that's even possible and in a relatively safe country) as I will need to prove that I'm a Malaysian tax resident.
I am also aware of the fact that tax and money ain't everything in life. It's hard to grasp them now seeing that I'm so obsessed about financial freedom, but comments and wisdom on that would be greatly appreciated as well.
Thanks so much for your indulgence. Oh, and since it matters in Dubai... I have clean bill of health. Slightly overweight BMI scale-wise, but apart from that I'm good. No STDs. I'm only saying this because my understanding is that medical examination is required for residency.
