2010 Tax thread - For Canada and the U.S.

[Arabella 4]

I love my husband dearly, but I am not going to wait around for him to get his act together to file taxes. He has still not filed his taxes for last year in Canada, and he is supposed to get nearly $1000 refund!

Guess what he did for a living in Canada? Yup, file taxes!!!!

So I am filing married but filing separatley. He can worry about his own taxes. He has a 2 year degree in accounting and I am sure he can figure it out.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

*bump* I'm really hoping someone can help us out here - (see my comment 2 posts prior)

Just trying to get everything figured out before POE next month!

He is not a permanent resident, he is not married to a US citizen, he will not have resided in the US more than 6 months in the last 12 and he will not have any US income. He has no real requirement to file a US income tax return until next year. If you got married before the end of the year there is the option that you could jointly file with him as your spouse, but he would have to declare all of his Canadian income and then take a foreign tax credit to back it out and avoid being double taxed on it. Depending on what your incomes are there may be little value to claiming the spousal deductions - you might want to work out the income tax requirements both ways- if that is something you think might be significant- although you would need to do that quickly and it would definitely add another level of complication to your lives right now.

Since you have so many things going on right now working through immigration and planning a wedding for the New Year, you may find it easier not to concern yourself too much about trying to figure which will be the biggest tax advantage to you, as the difference will probably be minimal with him having lived and worked in Canada for at least 10 months this year.

Regardless of what you chose to do marriage-wise, he would still file a Canadian Income tax return by April 30th. There is an excellent publication from CRA about emigrating and what you need to know about Canadian taxes when you leave Canada. Basically, his return in April will be considered his 'exit' return or his 'final' return to Canada and unless/until he gets Canadian income again, will not have to file a return after 2010.

He needs to send a change of address with his SIN number to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). They will then mail him the correct income tax return (it is the regular return for the Province in which he last lived) early in the new year. The return will be sent to the International Tax Office in Ottawa, rather than the regular address he used to file at. It is pretty straight forward. Since he will have no US income he will be able to claim a full year's tax deductions instead of having to pro-rate them for the time in Canada. He would just write a letter requesting the full year's deductions as his world income was totally Canadian based in 2010 and that will give him a bigger tax rebate.

Here are some useful links for him: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/lvng-eng.html

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4056/t4056-e.html

Edited October 30, 2010 by Kathryn41

[soon2batexan 3]

Thanks Kathryn41! This is good info! I'm crossing POE with my K-1 on Dec 3rd, and I know tax season will arrive upon on us sooner than we think. While I plan to hire a professional tax accountant to handle my CDN/US returns this Spring, this is very helpful information. I'll admit I've been a little panicked wondering about how it all works, and hoping we don't get slapped with some huge tax payment just because I moved and we got married.

Does anyone know if it's typical for Canadians to get at least somewhat of a rebate when they move? I know every situation is different, but how common is it to owe? My parents didn't find it to be too bad at all when they moved to Texas 2.5 years ago, and I've heard others say it typically balances out.

Perhaps I'm worrying for nothing?

[Danu 19]

I thought I would bump this thread for this years incoming tax stuff. I'm trying to get everything kind of figured out so that when next month rolls around hopefully I am less confused. I've read through this thread but I must confess it kind of made my eyes cross. Here's my info/guesses/questions.

For the Canadian side:

I crossed into the states Jan 11th 2010. I don't recall saying that I left on the last return I did, though I did update my address (if that makes sense...like I didn't do an exit thing). So does that mean I file an exit return this year? Also to confirm, I would put Wes's SIN as 000-000-000 and include his gross or net income on the world income line? I've read about the Section 217 and will probably be filling that out even though its not much that I will be getting back.

For the US side:

If I file a 217 do I also file a 1116 for the tax withheld from my 3-4 EI payments I got this year that were NR or does one nullify the other? I think I understand most of the other US stuff, but that part was puzzling me as to how it actually works. I got 1 EI payment still in Canada and I think it was 2 or 3 while I was in the states, and those were taxed at the higher rate. I think dealing with my EI is the only thing thats really confusing me.

Edit - oh I suppose I should also ask. I assumed I just file a 1116 for the EI payments, or should they really be the 2555?

Edited January 7, 2011 by Danu

[Danu 19]

Another question. Seeing as I only got one payment in Canada, and the rest were here in the States, taxed as NR, do I even have to file a Canadian tax return? just wondering based on reading some of the other tax thread, someone said that if NR tax was taken out you don't need to file? I made about 2.3k after taxes from the NR payments, and had one payment of about 650 while I was still in Canada.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I thought I would bump this thread for this years incoming tax stuff. I'm trying to get everything kind of figured out so that when next month rolls around hopefully I am less confused. I've read through this thread but I must confess it kind of made my eyes cross. Here's my info/guesses/questions.

For the Canadian side:

I crossed into the states Jan 11th 2010. I don't recall saying that I left on the last return I did, though I did update my address (if that makes sense...like I didn't do an exit thing). So does that mean I file an exit return this year? Also to confirm, I would put Wes's SIN as 000-000-000 and include his gross or net income on the world income line? I've read about the Section 217 and will probably be filling that out even though its not much that I will be getting back.

For the US side:

If I file a 217 do I also file a 1116 for the tax withheld from my 3-4 EI payments I got this year that were NR or does one nullify the other? I think I understand most of the other US stuff, but that part was puzzling me as to how it actually works. I got 1 EI payment still in Canada and I think it was 2 or 3 while I was in the states, and those were taxed at the higher rate. I think dealing with my EI is the only thing thats really confusing me.

Edit - oh I suppose I should also ask. I assumed I just file a 1116 for the EI payments, or should they really be the 2555?

I cannot remember if I bothered entering my husband's US income on my last Cdn tax return.....anyhoo about the US side....it doesn't matter where you lived when you got the EI payments - it's all Cdn income . You didn't exit in 2009 so this year's 2010 return is your exit return and you will report all Cdn income (EI plus anything else). You can file the Section 217 to get some, but probably not all of the Cdn tax which they took off (Ps check the deadline since you have to file it by a certain date)

I cannot remember if I filed a 1116 on the US side, but I do know the IRS taxed us on the CDN EI payments since it was my income and I don't think we really got much back - sucks. Try the Serbinski tax forum that Flames recommends..I found them very helpful...use the search feature first - the guy who moderates can be pretty crusty if you don't at least try to find the answers yourself.

[Danu 19]

Thanks I've been trying to read through a lot of it on my own and I've figured out some things but not others. I've found out I need to prorate my tax amount for the 11 days I was in canada, that I can file the 217 for the other part (cuz I haven't made much in the states either so I won't even be close to the 25%. Have to file the 217 before June 30th, which is fine, I want to file everything ASAP. I didn't have any other Canadian income, just the EI.

TY for the forum recommendation, I will read up on it, hopefully I can gain a bit of extra knowledge through it!

[Kimbear 53]

first off..Blargh..accounting degree or not..this years tax return is a PITA.

i guess i need to figure out if i'm a non resident / deemed non resident and file that type of return, or if i just file a normal general ontario return since i did live in ontario fro the first 96 days of the year.

i did pay rent for the first 3 months..so i'm wondering if i can still claim that rental rebate thing and the energy credit...although pro rated..or will i get screwed over like i did with my GST last year that they took away ? i moved in april and they even took away my january credit!! grrr

also, do i really have to put in davids net usa earnings on my CDN return? i entered the usa on a k1 visa, and we only got married in april.

i had zero income, zero EI, for all of 2009. i still dont have my green card and i haven't worked in the usa yet. no rrsp nada. totally zilch. i'm guessing that means i do not have to file a usa return this year, and that David can file married jointly on that? so it should be a simple return for him no extra foreign income for me etc.

normally i just use ufile for my returns. and i know i have to mail it out to the office in ottawa.

[sdw 10]

I have read this thread and I am still confused. Can I use ufile to complete my taxes? I realize I have to mail it. I did work for the first few months and then got EI for 5 months. I

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I have read this thread and I am still confused. Can I use ufile to complete my taxes? I realize I have to mail it. I did work for the first few months and then got EI for 5 months. I

Yes - now that you've said the name - that was the program I used. And correct - no efiling from outside Canada.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

first off..Blargh..accounting degree or not..this years tax return is a PITA.

i guess i need to figure out if i'm a non resident / deemed non resident and file that type of return, or if i just file a normal general ontario return since i did live in ontario fro the first 96 days of the year. There's a Cdn form to file and send CRA determination of residency or something...CRA will determine it for you

i did pay rent for the first 3 months..so i'm wondering if i can still claim that rental rebate thing and the energy credit...although pro rated..or will i get screwed over like i did with my GST last year that they took away ? i moved in april and they even took away my january credit!! grrr Probably, don;t know - but they do love to screw us

also, do i really have to put in davids net usa earnings on my CDN return? i entered the usa on a k1 visa, and we only got married in april. Yes, I did

i had zero income, zero EI, for all of 2009. i still dont have my green card and i haven't worked in the usa yet. no rrsp nada. totally zilch. i'm guessing that means i do not have to file a usa return this year, and that David can file married jointly on that? so it should be a simple return for him no extra foreign income for me etc. Do you mean for 2010? I assume you filed 2009 taxes back home? You got married in 2010 so yes, you guys could file married jointly

normally i just use ufile for my returns. and i know i have to mail it out to the office in ottawa. Can still use Ufile and then print it off at the end

[brightskte 18]

Okay, so now my head hurts. Booh.

But since Mathew worked in Canada until April last year, do we report that income as foreign income on our US tax return? He hasn't received any kind of payments or held a job since he moved down with his visa, but I'm kind of confused about that part.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Kayla*Mathew

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Okay, so now my head hurts. Booh.

But since Mathew worked in Canada until April last year, do we report that income as foreign income on our US tax return? He hasn't received any kind of payments or held a job since he moved down with his visa, but I'm kind of confused about that part.

Yes

[Matt n Shannon 3]

I wonder will I need to of FIled our taxes by time my wifes interview comes up March 4th. They prob. wont be available by time the interview comes. But we did file jointly last year.

[Veronik 19]

Wow, so much info on here! I'm still a little confused though and if anyone can answer my questions i'd be great!

1- I worked in Canada until June '10. Moved in the US in August, and haven't had any US income since. Can I file my Canadian taxes like I would normally do?

2- So when my husband files his taxes here, what is the most profitable for him, to file seperatly, or file as married? From your experience, what is best? And then if he does file seperately, do I need to file US taxes with my Canadian income? If we file jointly as married, do we 'declare' my canadian income?

Sorry if this is confusing, and these questions have probably been answered before, but I would appreciate the help guys! Thanks in advance!