I’m a Canadian with a company in Ireland and want to take some profit form my Irish company and buy some real estate in Canada. I'd like to take advantage of the favourable Euro and Canadian dollar exchange rates and falling housing prices in Canada.
Instead of putting cash into a retirement fund it seems it might be a better idea to leverage that money to buy some assets in the country where I’d like to retire?
Would love some insights about buying real estate via a LLC.
Thank you for your time!
Hello there and thanks for checking in. I agree that it may not be so good to keep cash sitting in a retirement fund, better to have it deployed wisely and making money for you. Putting funds into assets that could appreciate more than cash, especially if you might end up living nearby could be a lot safer. But be careful investing in a declining market, especially one so inflated as Canada. Many US markets are now rebounding from their bottom and possibly better investments. Canada does not have LLCs, but if you invest in the US, they are an excellent tool to protect your assets and often save yourself a lawsuit. Canada has some other entities that may give you similar protection, such as a corporation or partnership, so if you invest only in Canada we would need to look into those. Hope this helps.
Hello, investor! I am a real estate law clerk, and have worked in various aspects of real estate over the last 15 years.
Answer: Not anymore. Depending where you plan to invest, I know properties are hot in the "greater golden horseshoe", basically Toronto - Niagara, which is the most densely populated areas of Ontario. The government recently imposed a Non-Resident Speculation Tax - if you are not a resident/citizen of Canada, you pay 15% tax on the purchase. Now, even though YOU are not a non-res, your company sounds like it is a non-res of Canada. My suggestion would be to incorporate a company here in Ontario and link it to your Irish holdings, - see tax lawyer and/or accountant - and find a way to keep that tax in your pocket.
I can tell you more about the non-res tax, feel free to follow up with me.
The triple senses.
It does make sense for me to buy Residential RE with your Company. It makes more sense if it's a rental property investment. It makes even more sense if your objective is for retirement and your money is not set in a mutual fund or stock market.
However, please verify with your Local Tax expert and fiscal authority in Ireland.
