Managing RRSP while a tax non-resident?

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jjtb
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Managing RRSP while a tax non-resident?

Post by jjtb »

I'm wondering if anyone can advise me. My wife and I, both Canadians, work for an international humanitarian organization and we are transferred every three years, i.e. Pakistan, Ukraine and now a lovely stint in Brussels. We have obtained "non-resident status" from the Can government and pay taxes where we are residing at the time. We've just learned that one of our RRSP investments (not locked-in) in a Canadian account that we maintain at a Canadian bank (untouched since we left Canada and became non-residents) has a chunk of funds sitting in a savings account (money that should have been invested in an ETF or otherwise). I'm looking for advice on whether we can move that money (within the RRSP into a better investment) or are we stuck earning virtually no interest in the existing HISA... until one day we may become Canadian residents again?

Advice would be greatly appreciated - we are panicking since we discovered this oversight.

Thanks.
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AltaRed
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Re: Managing RRSP while a tax non-resident?

Post by AltaRed »

There is no reason your RRSP provider shouldn't allow you to switch investments within an RRSP. You will need to reach out to them to determine how best to do that since I am assuming you don't have much contact with that bank, or haven't in years? When you say Canadian bank, are you referring to a discount brokerage account, or are you referring to an RRSP at a bank branch? Bank branches themselves do not have accounts whereby you can purchase stock exchange based investments. For that you need a brokerage account.
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twa2w
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Re: Managing RRSP while a tax non-resident?

Post by twa2w »

Agree you should not have a problem. Ensure the bank( broker) has the correct nonresident code.

There are some jurisdictions you would have issues from but Brussels is not one of them AFAIK.

If you are with a big bank online brokerage you should be able to do this online if you are setup for or online trading. Most will have toll free numbers to ask questions.
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