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My wife is an ex USC (renounced in 2013) who has lived in Canada since 1987. She recently applied for her US Social Security, (and my Spousal Benefit) and because she has been receiving her CPP since last year, she was subject to WEP. During this process, I learned some surprising things about how S...

As stated in the instructions, it is income TAX, not income.

Now I can't find the reference. I know I read last year on a government of Canada website that if you had less than 40 years of residency in Canada at age 65, and if you deferred starting your OAS, then the deferred time (up to 5 years) would first be applied to your residency until you reached 40 y...

Regarding whether it is worth deferring the start of OAS from age 65 to age 70: If you would receive the full OAS at age 65, waiting until 70 would increase your OAS by 36%, i.e. 7.2% per year. However, to receive the full OAS requires 40 years of Canadian residency after age 18. If you have less th...

As stated above, you do not have to worry about WEP. If you are over 70, you should definitely apply for all of SS, CPP and OAS as soon as possible. Your CPP will depend on your work record in Canada. It should be increased by 42% by deferring it from age 65 to 70. OAS is currently about $600 (Canad...

My wife (ex-USC, Canadian resident) will be applying for her US Social Security next month. Since she is receiving CPP, her SS monthly benefit will be subject to a WEP reduction of 1/2 her monthly CPP. I'm starting to wonder how this calculation plays out in practice. I can think of at least 3 scena...

Seems about right. Yes, her QPP will have increased by age 67 due to the Cost of Living Adjustment, (at 2% annually for 7 years, $500 would increase to $575), so she should still get ~800 US$, provided the exchange rate is still ~0.75. In fact, the exchange rate is the biggest variable in this proje...

In fact, the maximum CPP payment for 2019 (which virtually no one receives) is 1,154.58 Can$, which at a exchange rate of 0.75 is 866 US$, so the maximum WEP cap of CPP/2 = $433, which is less than your $463 from the SS table. I'm not sure where you got the x/2 limit from.

The 1040 instructions are quite straightforward: "If your spouse is a nonresident alien, he or she must have either an SSN or an ITIN if: You file a joint return, You file a separate return and claim an exemption for your spouse, or Your spouse is filing a separate return." Since you are n...

So the cost of renouncing would pay for itself in one year of tax return savings.

According to the SS website ( https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/applying6.html ) if you and your spouse apply for SS at the same time, they will calculate your SS benefit based on your own work record, and the amount you would get as a spousal benefit based on your wife's work record, and automati...

Yes. The WEP calculation is complicated, but the amount of the WEP reduction to her SS is capped at 1/2 of whatever she will receive from QPP. (OAS is not included in WEP). The good news is: if you are a Canadian who has no SS benefit of your own, you can apply for a "Spousal Benefit" whic...

It does as long as the IRS does not consider her "simple" TFSA to still be a foreign trust, requiring 3520 reporting. There are several threads on this.

One more advantage for Plan B: Your wife can now open her own TFSA. She will immediately have $57,500 in contribution room, and can move some of those bank CD's into it and stop paying Canadian tax on the interest.

Your situation is almost identical to that of my wife and I 5 years ago. She renounced her US citizenship in 2013 (when the fee was still only $450, not the usurious $2,350), and she has never regretted it. One caveat: if you continue to do your wife's taxes by yourselves (as we did), make sure you ...