Serbinski Accounting Firms

Now may be a good time to collapse the RRSP as the weak loonie lowers the taxable gain in the US.

A previous comment from Nelson: My favorite is taking a course in Canada for my job. The work days spent in canada can be used to proarte your annual wages as foreign sourced, and you get a nice tax credit if you have some unused FTC from past years. So if I have unused FTCs from collapsing spouse's...

OK, thanks, I will try TDW.

We just aren't happy with the current management that seems to be more concerned about generating fees than returns. Are there any discount brokerages that handle LIRAs for Americans?

My wife has been resident in the US for more than 10 years and is now a US citizen. How easy is it to transfer her LIRA from one financial institution in Canada to another?

Thanks for the advice on the additional carryforward - not sure if I will ever be able to use it but you never know. 217 isn't an option for us. The tax hit is not as significant as one might think. Firstly we collapsed the RRSP at the bottom of the market, which minimized the taxable gain (from a U...

The taxable portion is indeed only a small % of the total distribution. Let's say the taxble portion is $1000. $1000 goes in 7b on 8891 and also 16b on 1040. Then on 1116, I show the $1000 as foreign General Category Income and $250 as the foreign tax. Is this the right approach?

Thanks for the prompt response. We are subject to AMT - so no deduction for us. Based on my first pass - we actually managed to suck up most of the credit.

After collapsing my wife's RRSP, I need to claim a modest FTC for 2009. On form 6251, what are the pros and cons, if any, of electing to use the Simplified AMT Foreign Tax Credit Limitation?

Well I don't know for sure but that was the peroid over which the RRSP was built up. Remember that this is my wife's account (and we weren't married until late in 2000).

Damn the AMT!

I do have the book value in CAD as of 2000 (not the market value) but I do not have enough history to map out the composition of the book value by year (1991- 2000). The loonie was at its lowest over that period in 2000 so at least using the 2000 exchange rate is conservative (although I may be leav...

Pulled the trigger on the RRSP - just waiting for the funds to transfer. Thinking ahead to my US tax return for 2009, in order to determine the taxable portion, I will need to convert the CAD book value in 2000 to USD (say using the interbank rate on the day in question). For the proceeds, I think t...

Still haven't moved on this yet - with the market still going down. There's one aspect that I wanted to check. My wife (the Canadian) moved to the US in 2000 (on a TN1). We then both became permanent residents and then US citizens. I am assuming that collapsing my wife's RRSP would only trigger US t...

Yes - 8891s are in good order.

We are not looking at retiring for 20 years and have a high marginal tax rate in the US.

We also have a LIRA but need to unlock it before collapsing. How long does that process typically take?

Been contemplating collapsing RRSP for a number of years. Thinking of acting now while the value is low (close to book value in 2000 when moved to US) thus minimizing US tax impact. Any pitfalls I'm missing?