When should I activiate my Green Card?

[Colbert Report 5]

I was issued a visa after an interview last week. I have the visa in my passport and must choose when to cross the border and activate it. I live and work in Canada.

My question is, should I wait until January 1 of 2015 to go the US in order to avoid paying taxes on my Canadian income? I have no problem paying taxes, and I make a substantial income here in Canada, which I happily pay taxes on, but I certainly do not want to be on the hook for taxes to the IRS on income made here in Canada.

[Ian H. 207]

You cannot be held responsible to pay US taxes for any money you made while you weren't an LPR. That said, you won't have to pay any US taxes, if any (there's a foreign income exclusion) unless you choose to be treated as a US resident for the whole year and you made more than the foreign income exclusion. US tax law is very complicated, unfortunately, here is a link with the IRS publication for aliens.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/index.html

If you still want to, you can move to the US up until the expiration date on your visa.