Moving from Vancouver to Miami: Taxes and the Tech Money Pipeline

Vancouver and Miami look nothing alike, mountains against ocean, film and gaming against finance and crypto, but the money moving between them has grown fast. Vancouver tech workers are landing in Wynwood and Brickell startups, drawn by Miami’s newer fintech and crypto scene as much as by the weather, while Vancouver real estate wealth keeps flowing into Miami-Dade condos the way it already flows into Naples and Fort Lauderdale. The tax story underneath is one of the largest rate drops in this whole corridor set, paired with an exit bill and a residency test that catch people who assume the drop is the whole story.

How big is the rate drop to Miami?

About as large as this corridor gets. BC’s provincial brackets run to 20.5% above roughly $252,752 (2025 figures), stacked on federal tax to land near 53.5% combined at the top. Florida adds nothing at the state level, on any income type, and unlike Texas or Washington, Miami-Dade’s sales tax also comes in lower than most other no-income-tax destinations, so both major taxes fall at once rather than one dropping while the other partly offsets it.

What does BC charge you on the way out?

The same deemed disposition every departing BC resident faces, taxed at BC’s own bracket rates rather than a separate exit levy. Ceasing Canadian residence triggers a deemed sale of most property at fair market value, with 50% of the gain taxable on the first $250,000 and 66.67% above that, reported on your final BC return at BC’s combined rates. The Florida rate drop only applies to income earned after that date; nothing about the move reduces the departure-year bill itself.

• The forms and worked math sit in the T1161 and T1243 guide.
• The full exit sequence, including elections that defer payment without reducing the liability, is in the leaving-Canada checklist.

Why are Vancouver tech workers landing in Miami?

Because Miami built a second pitch alongside its weather: cheaper capital and a growing crypto and fintech cluster. Vancouver’s gaming, VFX, and software talent has spent a decade feeding companies like EA and Amazon in a city with limited venture density; Miami’s Wynwood and Brickell startup scene, backed by relocated finance money and a wave of crypto firms, offers funding and founder energy that Vancouver’s market doesn’t match at the same scale. It reads as a tech move as much as a tax move for a growing share of this corridor.

Have you already tripped the substantial presence test?

Possibly, and it’s arithmetic rather than intent. The test counts the current year’s days in full, one-third of the prior year’s, and one-sixth of the year before that; hit 183 and you’re a US resident alien for tax purposes for that year, worldwide filing obligation included, regardless of what you own in Florida. Vancouver households who’ve been stretching winter stays in a Fort Lauderdale or Miami property a little longer each year can cross that line before any move is official.

• The mechanics of the count, and the Form 8840 closer-connection exception that can save someone close to the line, are in the substantial presence test guide.

How long does MSP coverage last after you leave?

Shorter than most people plan for. BC’s Medical Services Plan runs out at the end of the month following the month you leave the province, plus whatever period you’ve already prepaid, which in practice works out to roughly a three-month tail from notice to true cutoff. After that window, there’s no BC coverage and no Canadian universal system behind it, so employer-sponsored or ACA marketplace coverage in Florida needs to be arranged before it closes. The full timing sits in the provincial health insurance guide.

How do sales and property taxes actually compare?

Sales tax drops by nearly half; property tax works on a different curve entirely. BC combines 7% PST and 5% GST for 12%. Miami-Dade runs 6% state plus a 1% county surtax, close to 7% on most purchases. Property tax runs the other way: Miami-Dade’s effective rate lands around 1.5% to 2.0% of assessed value against BC’s roughly 0.3% to 0.5%, though Miami’s median home values sit well below Vancouver’s, so the dollar bill often lands closer than the rate gap suggests.

	Vancouver / BC	Miami / Florida
Top combined income tax rate	About 53.5%	0% state, federal only
Sales tax	12% (7% PST + 5% GST)	About 7% in Miami-Dade (6% state + 1% surtax)
Property tax (effective)	Roughly 0.3% to 0.5%	Roughly 1.5% to 2.0%, capped after year one
Capital gains inclusion	50% on first $250,000, 66.67% above	Federal treatment only, no state layer
State/provincial estate tax	Not applicable	None (federal estate tax still applies)

How do the homestead exemption and Save Our Homes work?

Two mechanisms, and the gap between them catches nearly everyone in year one. Own the home and make it your permanent residence by January 1, and Form DR-501 filed with the county by March 1 gets up to $50,000 off assessed value. Save Our Homes is separate: once you’ve had one exempt year on the roll, annual assessment increases cap at the lower of 3% or the change in CPI. That cap does not apply in year one; the first year is assessed at full value, and the protection only builds from year two on.

Is Florida’s estate tax picture as simple as it looks?

Not once you look past the state line. Florida has no state estate tax at all, full stop. The US federal estate tax still applies, and for a non-US citizen the exemption sits at $60,000 rather than the far larger exemption available to citizens and residents, a gap that surprises Canadians who assume “no state estate tax” means no exposure. The mechanics are in the $60,000 exemption guide.

What happens to the RRSP and TFSA?

The RRSP is the clean part, precisely because Florida has no state return to attach an addback to. Treaty deferral applies automatically at the federal level; with no state filing at all, there’s no state-law wrinkle the way there is in a state like California. The TFSA gets no such pass: the US treats it as a foreign trust, which drags Form 3520 and 3520-A reporting behind it every year it stays open after you become a US person.

• Full federal mechanics for both accounts are in the RRSP and TFSA guide.
• CPP and OAS keep arriving on schedule, taxed under treaty rules that credit Canadian withholding rather than doubling it.

What should you settle before you sign anything?

Two dates. The day your Canadian residence actually ends, because the deemed disposition and the BC bracket both key off it. And your real day count in Florida over the last three years, so you know whether the substantial presence test already made you a US resident before the move was official. Only after both are pinned down does the homestead filing deadline and the Wynwood-versus-Brickell-versus-Fort-Lauderdale question become the easier decision it looks like from outside.

• Vancouver to Seattle, the closer tech corridor with RSU and excise-tax questions.
• Vancouver to San Francisco, where the RRSP gets taxed annually by the state regardless of treaty.
• Vancouver to Los Angeles, the entertainment-industry version of this move.
• Vancouver to New York, the finance and film corridor into NYC.
• Vancouver to Austin, the other sharp-drop corridor from BC.
• Vancouver to Denver, the outdoor-lifestyle tech corridor from BC.
• Vancouver to Portland, the I-5 corridor south with no sales tax.
• Vancouver to Washington DC, the tech-to-policy corridor from BC.
• Vancouver to Chicago, the flat-rate Midwest corridor from BC.
• BC to Florida, the province-level version of this corridor.
• Toronto to Miami, the largest Florida corridor for comparison.
• Montreal to Miami, the Quebec version of this move.
• Calgary to Miami, the energy-sector version from Alberta.
• Canada’s departure tax, T1161 and T1243, and the leaving-Canada checklist.
• The US-Canada tax treaty explained, the framework behind the RRSP deferral and the FTC math.
• Your first US tax return as a new immigrant, what the first Florida-side filing actually requires.
• Vancouver to Boston, the biotech corridor into Massachusetts.

This guide is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Which points apply, and how, depends on your facts.