tax questions

[ronatusa]

Hi All,

I have read different posts at this forum and also checked online for good answer but still confused so would request if someone can guide in right direction .
I have moved to US 3 years back from Canada and just found out that all foreign bank accounts need to be reported if total amount is over 10K

Question 1: If someone is in the US for 2-3 years and had over 10K in foreign banks (checking a/c) but no interest or other income outside of US.
How to catch up on FBAR for compliance without penalty as it was not reported on schedule B on previous taxes?

Wanted to know what's the best way to go on these. Is it delinquent FBAR and also amendment to the taxes filed last 2 years or any other better option?

Question 2: If the money is in RRSP, does interest in RRSP saving accounts have to be reported and on which form?

Question 3: TFSA in Canada, does the interest or dividend need to be reported? Where?

Question 4: If the Canadian bank accounts are in joint names (with spouse), does both have to file FBAR

thanks in advance

[ronatusa]

Hi,

I understand these may have been answered a few times on different post but would appreciate someone point me to right direction or answer these for me.

Thanks

[quote="ronatusa"]Hi All,

I have read different posts at this forum and also checked online for good answer but still confused so would request if someone can guide in right direction .
I have moved to US 3 years back from Canada and just found out that all foreign bank accounts need to be reported if total amount is over 10K

Question 1: If someone is in the US for 2-3 years and had over 10K in foreign banks (checking a/c) but no interest or other income outside of US.
How to catch up on FBAR for compliance without penalty as it was not reported on schedule B on previous taxes?

Wanted to know what's the best way to go on these. Is it delinquent FBAR and also amendment to the taxes filed last 2 years or any other better option?

Question 2: If the money is in RRSP, does interest in RRSP saving accounts have to be reported and on which form?

Question 3: TFSA in Canada, does the interest or dividend need to be reported? Where?

Question 4: If the Canadian bank accounts are in joint names (with spouse), does both have to file FBAR

thanks in advance[/quote]

[Potassium]

I was in your situation last year, I had been in the US for 3 years. I spent lots and lots of time researching things and reading everything on here and eventually decided it was best to hire a cross-boarder accountant to deal with everything to made sure I get things done correctly. Then I could see how they filled in the various forms and do it myself for subsequent years.

Maybe that is something you want to consider if you can afford it. Because trying to piece together all the information and everything you need to do is time consuming and you will never get answers to *everything* you need to know and do and how to do it. As you are already starting to find out.

There's lots of useful advice on this board but sometimes some questions just go completely unanswered.

If you have TFSA then there is also 3520/3520A forms which are in themselves a nightmare.
Also if you have foreign income from your accounts and you didn't declare it on your US tax returns then you ought to make amendments to your past returns as well.
So everything starts to mount up and time is running out (the deadline for 3520 is just a few weeks away).

Sorry I haven't answered any of your questions, but I'll answer the last one, yes you'll need separate FBARS.

[ronatusa]

Hi Potassium, thanks for the reply.

If you are in the Bay area, can you suggest cross-boarder accountant and appox fees you had to pay to get this taken care of?

Thanks

[Potassium]

I'm not in the bay area, but I didn't visit them anyway, it was all done by email/phone, so you don't necessarily need to be physically near them.

I actually used Serbinski, I emailed several firms for a quote first and most didn't even bother to reply! Or if they did it took weeks, so I wasn't going to use somebody who wasn't prompt and at least Serninski were.

I don't have the exact details to hand but I think it was something like 3-5 thousand dollars which covered everything, in particular:
- ammended 2011 and 2012 returns (joint)
- 2013 return (joint)
- FBAR filing (for myself and wife) including delinquency handling
- TFSA 3520 filing (one each for me and my wife).


A few thousand sounds a very lot but I had peace of mind. And actually due to the 2011 and 2012 returns being amended I ended up with a large back log refund which more than covered the accountancy fees (though of course using an accountant doesn't necessarily mean they'll find a refund).

[ronatusa]

Potassium,

Thanks again for quick reply.

Agree with you, 3-5 thousand is not a lot if that give peace of mind and know IRS will not penalize you. Specially if there are no foreign income but just some funds in foreign accounts that is not giving any interest anyway

Just one more thing, in your case did you go for the Streamline disclosure program OR Delinquent FBAR and amended tax returns for previous 2 years

thanks a lot

[Potassium]

I can't recollect, I think the delinquent fbar, the returns for the previous returns were defiantly amended though.