Serbinski Accounting Firms

Canadian mutual funds and ETFs are considered PFIC for US tax and hence should be avoided by dual US-Canada citizens living in Canada. US-registered mutual funds are not considered PFIC for US tax. However, does it matter in which financial institution the investment account that holds US mutual fun...

Should non-taxable proceeds from non-qualified life insurance be somehow reported in US tax return?

Thank you. Indeed, I was looking at the older version.

Dual citizen, resident of Canada, income only from Canada. I have a Registered Pension Plan (RPP) from work (defined benefit plan). In 2011-12, my US taxes were prepared by a large and expensive cross-border accounting firm. When they reported my salary on 1040, they deducted the contributions made ...

When I add the passive 1116 for the sale of house, even though there is no Canadian tax on passive income, line 18 in the general category 1116 gets strongly reduced as apparently this entry is now computed taking into account the adjustment coefficient for long term capital gains (not sure why it i...

If there are no foreign taxes on passive income, should the capital gain from selling Canadian principal residence still be included in passive category form 1116? Or it should be simply omitted from this form? If the capital gain is 700K USD and the exclusion for married filing jointly is 500K, wha...

Does long-term capital gain from selling Canadian principal residence (not taxed in Canada) affect how Canadian tax is apportioned between different income categories for foreign tax credit in US tax return? Here is a simplified situation (dual citizen): Suppose that the l.t. capital gain from selli...

Thank you. No, it is not the last RRSP.

Where to report the withdrawal? Can it be done just by appending a comment to the US tax return submitted by mail?

I had a small RRSP (about 5K) for a number of years from which I withdrew all money recently. From the US perspective it is a loss, because Canadian dollar fell over these years against USD; after converting in US dollars, the amount deposited was higher than the amount withdrawn. How to report this...

Is the foreign exchange gain taxed by the U.S. at capital gains rate or at (higher) ordinary income rates? Different sources say different things.

Thank you Nelsona. I understand that with large loans taken in Canada, if CAD decreased with respect to USD, a way to eliminate the US tax would be to re-pay the loan in small installments. For example, a $200,000 loan could be re-paid within a year by making 200 daily re-payments each worth $1000. ...

I could not find a clear answer on Internet about how this works with loan / mortgage interest. The unclear part is whether the interest you pay is counted as part of your payment back. To use a simple example: Suppose you borrow $1 million CAD when exchange rate is 1:1 (so it is worth $1 million US...

The amount of mortgage at discharge should also include the interest paid, right? Then the Foreign Mortgage gain would rarely be positive, even if the exchange rate changes unfavorably. Do I understand this correctly?

If there is a Foreign Mortgage Gain (a positive difference between the value of mortgage in US dollars when taken and when discharged due to a change in exchange rate), is it attributed to the General Category Income on form 1116 "Foreign Tax Credit"?

The long-term capital gains rate is 15% if the taxable income is below certain threshold ($501,600 if married filing jointly in 2021) and 20% if the income is above the threshold. So, my understanding is that if the capital gains from selling the home are $800,000, other income $200,000, then the ra...