H&R Block did our US taxes

[Colleens 40]

We went to H&R Block to get our taxes done. The first office we went to no one had a clue how to deal with foreign income, so I called a couple of other offices and found that said they had someone who was experienced in doing foreign income. I am still unsure if they did it correctly tho. Here is my story, and if anyone can comment on whether is sounds like it is done correctly or if we should find someone else to look at it, it would be very much appreciated.

I POE'd in April 2010. In Jan 2010 I recieved a severance package from my former employer, so this will be the only 'employment' income I have. I cashed in some of my RRSP's in 2010 as well. This is what I am most concerned about as they entered this income as a capital gain (used the market value minus the book value) and not the amount I recieved when I cashed it in. I also collected maternity benefits (same as EI), this was entered as other income. Does this seem to be correct?

With my husband just losing his job and a new baby I want to be sure that things are done correctly...especially if it means possibly getting a bigger refund.

TIA

[lbjr 0]

I have spoken with a lawyer who was familiar with foreign income and I also have some accounting background. Whenever you withdraw your RRSP's entirely for personal reasons and have no intentions on repaying the amount (within 15 years), you have to claim the entire amount withdrawn (before taxes) as earned income, I believe you should've received a T4RRSP slip for this which will display the correct amount.

Maternity benefits are taxable like EI, so HR putting it into "other income" is ok.

I hope that helps a bit.

Edited March 19, 2011 by lbjr

[Colleens 40]

I have spoken with a lawyer who was familiar with foreign income and I also have some accounting background. Whenever you withdraw your RRSP's entirely for personal reasons and have no intentions on repaying the amount (within 15 years), you have to claim the entire amount withdrawn (before taxes) as earned income, I believe you should've received a T4RRSP slip for this which will display the correct amount.

Maternity benefits are taxable like EI, so HR putting it into "other income" is ok.

I hope that helps a bit.

TY...I would like to at some point replace the money, but since I am no longer a resident of Canada it is impossible to contribute to an RRSP any longer. I cashed in from 3 different accounts and received NR4's for 2 of them (since I was processed as a non-resident) and one was done incorrectly and I received a T4RSP for the one that was processed incorrectly (as me still being a resident).

I am really worried that they handled the income from the RRSP's incorrectly and it is going cause some trouble with the IRS

[Flames9_RN 358]

For the RRSP's back in Canada I know he should have filled out form 8891 to report the RRSP's on

[HisGirl 0]

This is my first time filing taxes as a US resident and was wondering if I should go to H&R Block too.

Has anyone used Turbotax??

[Inky 1,110]

This is my first time filing taxes as a US resident and was wondering if I should go to H&R Block too.

Has anyone used Turbotax??

This is our second year using H&R. We are pleased with it, specially with the safety policy thing they have(extra 35$).

They did our first return with my Canadian income ( I had stocks ) and they just did our second return (minus the Canadian stuff). We did however make sure to check for people who were good with foreign returns and income and fortunately the woman at the HR near us does all kinds of foreign returns and income including Canadian ones. Cost us around 200$ to get it done up (home owners with stocks etc so they do a few extra forms for us not everyone has)

[Flames9_RN 358]

There are good H&R franchises and bad ones!! Back in 2005 I went to H&R Cdn/USA tax expert at Ballston mall and he was terrible!! What one can do is do a bit of research on ur own on the IRS.gov site, http://forums.serbinski.com/ forum and of course the tax thread here on VJ! That way if 1 can have a bit of an idea that the tax expert knows what he is doing! If you have RRSP's and he has no clue what form 8891 is, then maybe he isn't really an expert!! lol

[Udella&Wiz 325]

This is my first time filing taxes as a US resident and was wondering if I should go to H&R Block too.

Has anyone used Turbotax??

Turbotax worked fine for us - handled my Cdn foreign income just fine and asked the right questions.....you may wish to refer to the tax thread we have in the Cdn forum as well.

[lbjr 0]

TY...I would like to at some point replace the money, but since I am no longer a resident of Canada it is impossible to contribute to an RRSP any longer. I cashed in from 3 different accounts and received NR4's for 2 of them (since I was processed as a non-resident) and one was done incorrectly and I received a T4RSP for the one that was processed incorrectly (as me still being a resident).

I am really worried that they handled the income from the RRSP's incorrectly and it is going cause some trouble with the IRS

I wouldn't worry too much considering that you did your taxes with H&R. They are usually good about dealing with the CRA/IRS on your behalf if you are audited. If you run into any problems with the IRS, H&R will fix the problem for you (or so I've been told by one of their agents).

[rika60607 215]

Would not your Canadian income be excluded from US taxation for the first $90K anyway?

[zyggy 9]

We went to H&R Block to get our taxes done. The first office we went to no one had a clue how to deal with foreign income, so I called a couple of other offices and found that said they had someone who was experienced in doing foreign income. I am still unsure if they did it correctly tho. Here is my story, and if anyone can comment on whether is sounds like it is done correctly or if we should find someone else to look at it, it would be very much appreciated.

I POE'd in April 2010. In Jan 2010 I recieved a severance package from my former employer, so this will be the only 'employment' income I have. I cashed in some of my RRSP's in 2010 as well. This is what I am most concerned about as they entered this income as a capital gain (used the market value minus the book value) and not the amount I recieved when I cashed it in. I also collected maternity benefits (same as EI), this was entered as other income. Does this seem to be correct?

With my husband just losing his job and a new baby I want to be sure that things are done correctly...especially if it means possibly getting a bigger refund.

TIA

As an RRSP is tax deferred shelter, accoridng to the US-Canada Tax Treaty, income from it is pension or retirement income, i.e. it is considered the same as cashing out a 401k (without having to worry about the early distribution penalty)... So in this case it was done incorrectly. If he had filled out Form 8891, it would have directed him to report the income correctly. You would treat the amount as pension income and it would be taxed as ordinary income. However, you would take the 25% non-resident tax as a foreign tax credit. Your maternity benefits are classified as unemployment insurance.. i.e. ordinary income as well. Entering it as other income is fine as it is reported.

In this case, doing it correctly won't result in a bigger refund. Taxes on Capital Gains are lower than taxes on ordinary income.

Edited March 21, 2011 by zyggy