Serbinski Accounting Firms

Yes, it helps a lot! It makes much more sense to interpret the summary portion of the form as applying to the maximum total in all the accounts during the year. I also added next to "RRSP" in the description of the account, "transferred to RRIF below," so iIt should be clear to t...

I've filled out 8838 with a lot of help from this forum--thank you!--but I haven't found the answer to this. I converted my RRSP to a RRIF at the end of 2014, and all my holdings were first transferred into one RRSP first. The result is that the maximum value in all the accounts was more than double...

Part V!. for the RRSPs details, Part II for the summary of RRSP holdings. No earnings to report, therefore nothing to fill in, in Part III 2). Bank accounts, and investments outside of RRSPs, should be summarized in Part I, and the account details given in Part V, I presume. Also, any earnings shoul...

I'm an American citizen, Canadian resident, dual tax filer. I found the following, on pages 4-5 of the new Instructions for Form 8938 (2014): "[b]Interests in assets held in financial accounts.[/b] If you have an interest in a financial account that holds specified foreign financial assets, you...

You brought a smile to my day.

Thank you so much for your help, Nelsona.

It’s great news that I don’t have to attach anything. Years ago, an IRS instructor who came to our US consulate told me that the 2555-EZ form was an exception to that general rule, so I’ve been attaching it right along. Now that several parts of my income were exempted, though, I wondered if i...

Hi, I’m a dual US-Canadian filer, living in Canada. I’m using 2555-EZ to exclude my Canadian earned income, and form 8833 to claim a treaty-based exemption for OAS and QPP. I also have passive earned income, and it is high enough that I have to file form 1116 for the first time, in spite of exem...

Hi, I've always used the Federal Reserve average conversion rate for the year, for some calculations, and the Fed. Res. rate at the end of the year, or the historical rate for the particular date, as applicable. But instructions for the new form 8938 tell us to use the Treasury Dept. rate ("in ...

:D hooray and thank you very much!! :D

Hi, can anyone tell me if I need to mention the Quebec Pension Plan on Form 8838? The instructions refer to "interests in foreign pension plans". I contributed to the QPP for many years, and am entitled to a certain monthly pension based on those contributions. Does that entitlement consti...

I have a couple of questions, too. What do you do if a savings account was closed during the year, and the funds transferred to a new account? Do you report both, each with its highest balance ? If you do, it would falsely inflate your savings. Is that ok? Or do you report only the balances of accou...

That is the best news!

Thank you so much for everything!

Marge

Oh, thank you!

Your mention of tax software in your last post made me think that maybe I should try using a software program again. So since my last post, I first searched the Serbinski forums to see if I could get a clue as to which software to use, came across a post which seemed to indicate that TurboTax would probably serve me best, since it has a form 8891, and then visited the TurboTax website. I spent a couple of hours searching the site, trying to find out if the software could help me, rather than confuse me further, as it did last time—or if it would ask me questions, but not all the right questions.

An example of this is that, following a meeting with an IRS rep in our U.S. consulate, I’ve been filing as “married filing separately,â€￾ and claiming my husband as an additional exemption. Next to the check box, I’ve been writing the reasons “(N.R.A. with no income from U.S. sources and not a dependent).â€￾ (I know that “married filing jointlyâ€￾ is recommended, but my husband does not wish to open his finances to the IRS, and I respect that. I do have an ITIN number for him however.)

During my searches on the TurboTax site, I saw several question-series about dependents, none of which seemed to lead to the possibility of using that spousal exemption. I did find most of it in a TurboTax blog article, however, which included the following:

“If you are married filing a separate tax return or as head of household, you can claim an exemption for your spouse if your spouse had no gross income, is not filing a tax return and cannot be considered the dependent of another taxpayer.â€￾ (source: http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/taxes-1 ... explained/ )

The IRS representative had explained to me that if my husband had no income from U.S. sources, that would qualify as “no incomeâ€￾ as far as my U.S. tax filing was concerned.

I tried to contact TurboTax myself, but you can’t seem to contact them unless you’ve already bought the software.

1. So my first question is, do you know if this possibility is addressed by TurboTax’s questions?

2. I didn’t know which version of the software to try, so I tried to ask “Tinaâ€￾ on the TurboTax website. But I didn’t seem to find the right key words. Do you know which version best deals with dual citizen/ Canadian residents’ issues?

I’m more than willing to file a 4868 asking for an extension, and spend the $80 CAD for the software, if there’s a really good chance it will help me to be sure I’m filing correctly. It’s a lot of time and expense, though, if it won’t—which is why I’ve turned to this site to ask these questions.

Thank you very much once again for your help,

Marge

Thanks very much for your quick reply; it is much appreciated.

It’s great news that my OAS is excluded from U.S. tax. I’m receiving the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), which is exactly the same as the CPP, except it’s collected and administered by the province of Quebec—you probably already know this, but I’d like to be sure that you mean that the QPP is excludable, too.

Would I actually put a zero in line 20, and put “form 8833â€￾ on the line next to it? I should explain that I haven’t been using any software. I used TurboTax once a long time ago, but it didn’t seem very helpful to US citizens living outside the States, so I never did again.

About Form 2555, I don’t use it; I use Form 2555-EZ, and this is what it says at the end:

“Foreign earned income exclusion. Enter the smaller of line 16 or line 17 here and in parentheses on Form 1040, line 21. Next to the amount enter “2555-EZ.â€￾ On Form 1040, subtract this amount from your income to arrive at total income on Form 1040, line 22.â€￾

Would that be ok?

Until I start drawing down on my RRSPs, my other passive income has been below the deductions threshold, so I’m still able to dodge form 1116, which I’m delighted about. I’m inordinately afraid of that form!

I’m really hoping that in the last paragraph of your reply, you meant, “If you lived in the U.S….â€￾ instead of “If you lived in Canada…â€￾ because I do live in Canada. Could you please clarify?

Thank you again for your help,

Marge

Hi, I'm a dual citizen, US-Canada, residing in Canada. I'm reporting OAS and QPP for the first time. After an extensive search in this forum this past week, I thought I had found out exactly what I needed to do, to comply: Use Form 8833 to take a treaty-based position that the pensions are exempt fr...