Serbinski Accounting Firms

I'm sure you're right about me having some confusion :)

I think I follow what you're saying. My question has to do with a situation where in the current tax year the taxpayer has enough other Canadian sourced income (RRIFs) that they need to use the full credit amount in the current year.

The ...

nelsona,

I understand from your explanation that the Canadian tax due to CPP/OAS/SS can produce a FTC but it can't be applied against the current year's tax. Is it possible to do this in a year where the entire FTC is needed to offset US taxes?

Would this be the process:
- Full amount of the FTC ...

rafa02, I posed the question of how to report SS benefits in Taxact to the Taxact support people. I'll paste the response below. They suggest to do as you have done and not report the income at all. As nelsona has pointed out this would then limit your foreign tax credit claim. What I may do to get ...

Thanks for the clarification nelsona!

OK. CPP/OAS were reported in the past (on line 16a) and I plan to continue reporting them.

I'm not sure what you mean by "It simply may not give any tax credit back." Can that credit only be applied against CPP/OAS income in the future (for instance if the taxpayer moved back to the US), or can it ...

Thanks for the info!

That's what makes sense to me but I was confused by what the accounting firm had done and looking through the instructions I only found references to categories of income not whether any specific income was taxable in the US.

He will be OK for this year (not owing US taxes ...

Anybody find a good way to get around this in the Taxact software?

[quote="rafa02"]Unfortunately this does not seem to work with tax software (TaxAct). Reducing (excluding) income on line 21 changes the amount of taxable SS benefits. No doubt this would work for paper filed returns, but I really do not want to go back to paper filing.[/quote]

rafa02, did you ever ...

Can all income tax paid in Canada be claimed as a Foreign Tax Credit in form 1116? Searching this forum I've seen some vague references to this but no clear information.

My question relates specifically to income of a US citizen resident in Canada that is not taxable in the U.S. - i.e. OAS, CPP and ...

I have seen no evidence that a US citizen is required to file anything for a NRA spouse who doesn't file US taxes though Nelsona has alluded to the possibility of this requirement at some future date.

If a law like this does come into effect the US government would basically be requiring its ...

My wife and I filed 4 3520s in 2010 and we brought the average way down too!

What would happen to those RRSPs if the taxpayer were to return to the U.S. and again be required to file U.S. taxes? Would you treat it as if tax had continued to be deferred in the interim or would you start fresh?

You raise the issue of potential filing requirements for NRA spouses who do not file jointly. I saw some discussion of this in another thread on RESPs:
http://forums.serbinski.com/viewtopic.php?t=4283&start=30

Potential future requirements are good to be aware of but I am most concerned about what ...

nelsona,

You make a good point regarding the tax deferral implications of not filing the 8891. If one is willing to claim the RRSP income though, it's still not clear to me whether the 8891 is required.

Similarly for the 3520. Even if it's not required you still have to claim the income when ...

From the site you linked "The Internal Revenue Service has no official exchange rate. Generally, it accepts any posted exchange rate that is used consistently."