ICCC- Foreign Reporting Requirements - A Tax Landmine for the Unwary

From L to R: Imtiaz Seyid, Raza Hasan, Dharma P Jain, Vinay Khosla, Brij K Sharma & Tony Chawla

Indo- Canada Chamber of Commerce organised an interactive session on Foreign Reporting Requirements – A Tax Landmine for the Unwary on 09 March 2015 at the ICCC headquarter.

Mr. Vinay Khosla, Tax Partner, Bateman MacKay LLP was the guest speaker at the session. In his presentation, he discussed in detail the T1135 requirements, definition of specified foreign property, determining cost, excluded properties, penalties and extended reassessment. Its mandatory to report foreign properties and income from those properties for Canadian residents who have specified foreign properties worth over $100,000 CDN at any time in the reporting period, said, Khosla.

The individuals who have Mutual Fund Corporation or mutual fund trust; or a non-resident owned Investment Corporation need not to file T1135. Form T1135 filing requirements do not apply to investments held within a registered plan, such as a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) or Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP), personal use property, such as a foreign vacation property used primarily as a personal residence.

Mr. Khosla also told that starting from 2015 form T1135 can be e-filed. He did reply questions raised by audiences in detail to make the session more interesting and interactive.

Mr. Dharma P Jain, President, ICCC in his welcome remarks said the reporting obligations were there since long but recent changes by Canada Revenue Agency to the reporting requirements and a more stringent compliance have increased the reporting obligations for those who owns and invest in foreign properties. Failure to file any required foreign reporting forms with Canada Revenue Agency may result in significant penalties. He suggested audiences to see a tax expert when it comes to tax matters and follow the law.

This is in line with Chamber's objective of providing a platform to its members for networking, education and sharpen their skills, Mr. Jain said.

Brij K Sharma, Vice President, ICCC said, that the session this evening is aimed to create awareness among the Chamber’s continuing effort to provide first-hand information from an expert to benefit them in filing their tax returns.

The response to the event was overwhelming and members liked the topic. Among present were Raza Hassan, SVP, CIBC, Imtiaz Seyid, Director, RBC, and others.