Canadian in SF - Tax Questions

travisobvs · Post by **travisobvs** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:57 pm

Hello,

I was referred here by Cannucksabroad.com. I am a single person from Toronto Ont Canada living in San Francisco working in Tech on an L1A visa. That being said I am fairly confused about how I do my taxes. A little about myself :

- I left Canada on 10/11/2013 - working ~11 months in Canada, ~1 in USA in 2013
- I have only mad income in USA for 2014 (appart from some gains on banking, and small investments)
- I have not filed my 2013 or 2014 taxes in either Canada or the USA.
- I have not yet filed a Departure return ( I have just found this today)

I need to understand what my next steps are for filing taxes, Should I file my departure return for 2014 or 2013? How much difference would I have to pay if I chose to NOT use the departure. How will my RRSP, CDN Savings accounts and TFSA investments effect my taxes after my departure.

I am happy to use a service and accountant if anyone can suggest or refer someone, bonus point for being in the Bay Area.

Thank you

Travis [/list]

travisobvs · Post by **travisobvs** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 2:51 pm

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:14 am

Please don't bump

travisobvs · Post by **travisobvs** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:34 am

Hi everyone,

I was told on the Canucks abroad that I may be able to find an answer here.

I can boil down my questions to : what taxes should I do first? and How do I declare that I am not living in Canada?

Thank you

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:57 am

Order doesn't matter.

Read the CRA Emigrants guide.

QC2OH · Post by **QC2OH** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 1:09 pm

Hi travisobvs,

In my very limited understanding (I'm not a tax person, but I also recently moved and had to figure out a lot by myself):

In addtion to nelsona's suggestion of the CRA emigrants guide, I can also suggest calling the CRA directly. I have found them helpful over the phone. The IRS tax guide for aliens (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf) would very likely help you with your 2013 returns.

If you departed in 2013 (see the emigrants guide for the definition of departure date), that should be the year you file your departure return. Of course you would also file a US tax return for 2013 - you were probably a non-resident for 2013 in the US.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 1:21 pm

I would disagree about calling CRA telephlunkies; QC2OH may have had a good experience (then again, he may not know that he got wrong answers), but even if he did, that probably made their quota of good answers for the decade.