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Originally Posted by rotten42
Can you explain that further? So if you sell your house you will have to pay a tax on that?
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No, primary residences aren't subject to capital gains. But for things that are, you have to pay tax on any capital gains that have occurred before you're allowed to establish residency somewhere else. Essentially the government wants to be able to tax the gains that occurred while you were a Canadian resident.
Just a simple example, if you own $100K in stocks that you originally paid $50K for, you have a capital gain of $50K. Normally you don't pay tax on that gain until you actually sell them, but if you're emigrating from Canada you have to pay the tax even if you hold on to the assets. With highly liquid assets it's not as big of a deal, as you could simply sell a portion to come up with money for the tax bill. But if it's something harder to move, or something you can't really sell a portion of (like an investment property or a business) then you need to come up with the money from somewhere else.