Serbinski Accounting Firms

Here's a conversation I just had with the Interactive Tax Assistant (ITA) that illustrates how it gets it wrong when I ask it for my son's Standard Deduction (at least, compared to what Pub. 501 says): What tax year are you asking about? 2023 What was your marital status on the last day of 2023? Sin...

I've never had any luck using the tax software, but I decided to try again this year for the filing for my Canadian-born, U.S.-citizen son. As I expected, the software started asking stupid stuff like asking for a permanent address with a U.S. state, etc. Seems that the tax software has no clue that...

I have one more question for clarification re how this relates to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion: According to Pub. 501 my son needs to file, since his gross income is greater than his earned income + $400: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2023_publink1000220702:~:text=Single%20depen...

I guess there's no way to delete a duplicate post?

First time I submitted my reply I got an error saying that the server could not handle the request, so I submitted again. When I got the same error I went back to the original post and found two copies of my reply. Ugh.

OK, thanks for that. I guess Form 8814 ("Parents’ Election To Report Child’s Interest and Dividends") is likely the one you're referring to (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8814.pdf). Unfortunately, one of the form's many disqualifiers is the child having earned income to report, so I gue...

OK, thanks for that. I guess Form 8814 ("Parents’ Election To Report Child’s Interest and Dividends") is likely the one you're referring to (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8814.pdf). Unfortunately, one of the form's many disqualifiers is the child having earned income to report, so I gue...

I'm a U.S. citizen residing in Canada with my non-U.S.-person husband and my 15-year-old U.S. citizen son. I filed as Married Filing Separately. Since I have little income, I paid no tax since my Standard Deduction was more than sufficient to cover my total income. Since my son is a dependent, my un...

Since my OP has drawn a blank, I'll add some thoughts I've had since posting. Perhaps one option is to wait until Joel is no longer a child dependant (18?), then start contributing such that his gov't bond, grant, and interest are under his personal exemption on his 1040. The IRS's timing of taxing ...

I am a citizen of both Canada and the U.S. My son Joel, 15, is also a joint Canada-U.S. citizen living with me and my Canadian husband (who is not a U.S. person) in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. My son recently qualified for Canada's Disability Tax Credit. My questions have to do with the taxation of the fu...

Just wanting to confirm my conclusions from filling out the forms . . .
It seems that there is no (refundable) federal Child Tax Credit for a 1040 reporting a taxable income of $0.
Is that correct?

Thanks.

Wondering how to calculate the IRS-taxable income for an RRSP withdrawal. In Canada, CRA will tax the entire withdrawal amount, since both the contribution amount and the earnings are deferred. However, since the IRS allows tax deferral of only the internal earnings, I'm wondering if there's a formu...

I live in Canada and am a U.S. citizen.

Are there any free or cheap tax prep offerings that allow me to file my U.S. taxes, including my foreign earned income and earned income exclusion (Form 2555). I see a few that will do it, but charge $50 for it. Is that the best I can do?

Thanks.

I am a U.S. citizen residing in Canada. (My husband is not a U.S. citizen.) For filing with CRA, I use the free StudioTax software. For my U.S. return, I've just been mailing in the forms, since my tax situation is very simple (homemaker with almost no income, filing as Married Filing Separately). A...

I and my husband live in Canada. I am a US citizen, my husband is not. (He is not required to file with IRS.) I have only about $700 in interest income to report. I file as married filing separately. I'm puzzled regarding what exemptions and tax credits I can claim. According to line 6a, I cannot cl...

Why do you say that spouses should avoid being executors? I've read several estate-planning books, and I've never seen that advice before. I would have thought that my husband would be the best choice as my executor, since no one knows my financial situation and cross-border issues as well as he does.