Expatriate Group Inc The

I would definitely NOT recommend using the Expatriate Group's services. They are wealth managers who market themselves as providing bespoke financial advice tailored to the specific needs of Canadians who are on the verge of becoming expatriates or who are repatriating to Canada after having lived and worked abroad. But all they really do is set up clients through Assante to deal with the clients' wealth or retirement funds. The Expatriate Group also introduces people, through recommendation, to grossly overpriced 3rd-party businesses such as Trowbridge to deal with taxes. The Expatriate Group will also ask you, the client, to find your own lawyer for matters like wills. And so, essentially, they expect you to do the footwork and set up business relationships based on their somewhat dodgy recommendations and then expect you to pay them for these questionable recommendations. I made the mistake of contacting them and asking for guidance back in 2017, after I'd recently repatriated to Canada and felt uncertain about my tax status after having been a non-resident for several years. The Expatriate Group recommended that I use the tax accountants, Trowbridge, to appeal against Revenue Canada's claim for 2017 tax and a late filing penalty. After waiting several months and paying Trowbridge's exorbitant retainer fees of over $2000, Revenue Canada sent their decision in March: they told me that my appeal had been rejected. I was charged $13,000 plus interest. Once I informed Trowbridge about Revenue Canada's decision, they dropped me without any further communication. They were simply happy to take my money and run. The Expatriate Group, meanwhile, was completely indifferent to my predicament. I therefore decided to do things on my own. I downloaded the Revenue Canada documents and launched yet another appeal myself without any help from the so-called "experts" recommended by the Expatriate Group. Eventually, I got a letter from Revenue Canada telling me that my appeal had been successful. Had I done things myself, without following the Expatriate Group's dubious "guidance" and using Trowbridge, the tax accountants they'd recommended, I could have saved myself a lot of worry and a few thousand dollars.