Serbinski Accounting Firms

Thanks for the response, Nelson, and apologies for posting in the wrong forum. The point about the 183 days has come up as a result of a colleague who moved to the USA with the same company one year earlier. He is now having his 2010 CDN and US taxes done by the accounting firm that our company hire...

17. I'm cognizant that it would be easier from the 2011 tax perspective if I was in the USA for less than 183 days (including discounted days from 2009 and 2010), so we are targetting that for our move.

I apologize in advance for the verbosity of my post.

My wife and I (50-55 yrs) will be moving to Texas from Canada this summer. I’ve done a lot of research and think that I’ve got a handle on most things, but I’ll give the summary here. I’d appreciate advice on mistakes that I’ve made or things I’ve omitted. I’ll number the points to make responding easier. Thank you in advance for your input.

1. It’s an intercompany transfer, so the company is taking care of the L-1 visa for me and whatever is required for my wife.
2. We’ll give up provincial health care and be a part of the company sponsored plan in the USA.
3. My wife is retiring as part of the move, so she has no intent to work in the USA.
4. We’re selling our principal residence in Canada prior to moving.
5. We plan to retain ownership of our vacation/retirement property in Canada.
6. We anticipate staying in the USA for only about three years before returning to Canada to retire. Of course, officially we have no plans to return and anticipate being Canadian non-residents for tax purposes.
7. We plan to rent, rather than buy, accommodation in the USA to avoid issues when ready to leave to return to Canada.
8. Of our two cars, we plan to take one with us to the USA (some costs are involved to make it USA compliant) and leave the other one at our vacation/retirement property for use when we are there.
9. We plan to maintain our RRSP’s “as isâ€￾ and elect to defer taxes payable to Uncle Sam using the IRS form 8891.
10. I understand that the assets in our non-registered investment account will go through the deemed disposition process on departure. The capital gains payable is a small enough amount that we’ll pay it when our 2011 income taxes are due, rather than deferring that until the assets are sold. I am unsure if it makes any difference if I maintain my Canadian investment account or if I open a CAN$ investment account at a USA institution (I want to avoid too much currency speculation as a part of the move).
11. From what I’ve read, I believe that if I make the right stock choices and the portfolio value rises while we are gone, we’ll be able to avoid taxes on the growth entirely. When we return to Canada we’ll go through the deemed acquisition process and when we sell we’ll pay Canadian taxes on only the growth since our return to Canada. Since the USA only imposes taxes when the securities are sold, there is no USA tax payable. This does seem too good to be true, so I’d welcome input on this point in particular.
12. We’ll maintain our Canadian bank account to pay for insurance on the vacation/retirement home (which might be difficult to get as non-Canadian residents) and insurance on the vehicle that we leave in Canada. We’ll notify the bank that we’re non-residents.
13. My wife will retain her Canadian-bank issued credit card for use when we’re in Canada on vacation.
14. I’ll give up my Canadian-bank issued credit card and get a USA-bank card. My wife will also get one.
15. I have an American Express card which I believe that I can get transferred to a USA address.
16. We’ll file the Department of the Treasury Form 90-22.1 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) yearly telling the USA about our foreign RRSP (and perhaps non-registered investments).