Vancouver to Columbus: Tech, Data Centres, and Ohio's Flat Tax Plus City Tax

Central Ohio has become one of the largest data centre markets in the US, and Vancouver's cloud and infrastructure engineers are part of the workforce building it. Columbus's banks and insurers hire Vancouver's fintech talent as well. The move is a large tax cut: BC's combined top rate of about 53.5% becomes about 42% in Columbus. The Vancouver home is the planning item.

Key takeaways

• BC's roughly 53.5% top rate sets the departure tax. On a $300,000 unrealized gain, about $80,000.
• Ohio's flat 2.75% state tax plus Columbus's 2.5% city tax, about 5.25% combined.
• Ohio follows the treaty's RRSP deferral.
• BC's 12% combined GST and PST becomes 7.5% sales tax.
• A Vancouver home kept empty faces three vacancy taxes. MSP ends on permanent departure.

The BC departure

Departure tax applies to non-registered investments, private company shares, crypto, and foreign property at fair market value on the departure date. BC real estate, RRSPs, TFSAs, and pensions are excluded. Report on Form T1243, list holdings on Form T1161 if the total exceeds $25,000, and post security under Form T1244 for illiquid assets. The Vancouver home is excluded, but kept empty it invites BC's Speculation and Vacancy Tax, Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax, and the federal Underused Housing Tax; rent it under NR6 and Section 216, or sell in the departure year.

Columbus's side

Flat 2.75% state income tax; 2.5% Columbus municipal income tax, with suburbs charging their own; 7.5% sales tax in Franklin County; property tax near 1.5% to 2%; no estate tax. The housing trade from Vancouver is among the largest of any US destination.

The RRSP in Ohio

Federally deferred under Article XVIII of the treaty and deferred for Ohio. Canadian withholding is 25% on lump sums, 15% on periodic RRIF payments within the treaty limit, with a US foreign tax credit federally.

Who makes this move

Vancouver cloud and infrastructure engineers to central Ohio's data centres, BC fintech staff to JPMorgan Chase and Huntington, Vancouver software engineers to the region's tech employers, and BC insurance professionals to Nationwide.

Worked example

A Vancouver cloud engineer moves to Columbus on May 31 with $200,000 of unrealized gain in a non-registered account, $350,000 in an RRSP, and a Vancouver condo sold in the departure year.

• Departure tax. $200,000 gain, $100,000 taxable, at about 53.5%: roughly $53,500.
• Condo. Sold as a resident under the principal residence exemption. No vacancy taxes.
• RRSP. No tax on departure; federal and Ohio deferral.
• Columbus. Combined top rate about 42%. Sales tax 12% becomes 7.5%.

Official sources

"When you leave Canada, you are considered to have sold certain types of property (even if you have not sold them) at their fair market value (FMV) and to have immediately reacquired them for the same amount. This is called a deemed disposition and you may have to report a capital gain (also known as departure tax)." — Canada Revenue Agency, Leaving Canada (emigrants), https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/individuals-leaving-entering-canada-non-residents/leaving-canada-emigrants.html

Ohio's individual income tax rates and brackets are published by the Department of Taxation. — Ohio Department of Taxation, Annual Tax Rates, https://tax.ohio.gov/individual/resources/annual-tax-rates

BC's Speculation and Vacancy Tax applies annually to residential property in designated taxable regions, with rates that depend on the owner's residency and tax status. — Government of British Columbia, Speculation and vacancy tax, https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/speculation-vacancy-tax

Practitioner note

Vancouver-to-Columbus movers often arrive with a large cash position from the condo sale and a question about where to put it. Not a TFSA, not Canadian mutual funds. We build the post-move portfolio around the US filings from day one.

See also: Weighing Florida instead? See the Canada-to-Florida guide, or the same city's Vancouver to Miami guide.

Next step

Fairlight prepares the BC departure return, the property decision, and the first-year federal, Ohio, and municipal returns. See cross-border pricing or book a call.