Serbinski Accounting Firms

The Situation: My wife was born and lived and worked in the US for 30 years, then moved to Canada when she married me (Canadian, non-USC). She renounced her USC in 2013. Next year she will be applying for her US Social Security benefit (she is already receiving CPP and OAS). My understanding is that...

CRA states that "The income you report is based on the interest you earned during each complete investment year." You did not receive a tax slip in 2017, because the one year anniversary for both GIC's did not fall in 2017, but in 2018. I believe you do not have to report interest from eit...

The new Liberal government in Ottawa has cancelled the previous government's increase in the eligibility age for OAS to 67, and has rolled it back to 65.

Went through very much the same process with my wife several years ago. If you want verification that all your filings are up to date, go to the IRS website and follow the links to "get a tax transcript". About 6 months after filing, we always applied for a Tax Account Transcript. This lis...

Plus, if at some time in the future you decide to settle permanently in Canada, and you get tired of being held hostage by the IRS, you will be able to renounce your US citizenship. You cannot renounce unless you have another citizenship to fall back on.

No, because they have no net present value. However, if you have a company pension it should be reported on line 6 or 7. Note also that if you are not a covered individual, i.e. if the total of column a is less than $2M, it really doesn't matter what numbers you put in columns b and c. Of course, if...

Sorry, just noticed that you are an LTR. Assuming you held the RRSP before you became a US resident, its cost basis is the Book Value of the RRSP on the date you became a US resident plus any subsequent contributions.

How did you invest your cash assets? If you bought GIC's or bonds, the basis is the GIC principal or the face value of the bond, converted into US$ at the exchange rate prevailing at the time you bought them. For simple bank accounts, since interest is compounded monthly, the cost basis (b) and the ...

When my wife had trouble getting her Canadian citizenship issued in her new name we were able to enlist the help of our local MP to sort things out. Unfortunatly expat Americans have no local congressman to turn to. Another example of "legislation without representation".

Yes. When she asked for her name to be changed on her initial US passport, they stamped one of the back pages of her passport with a rubber stamp, that must have been on hand at the consulate. The stamp is titled "Ammendments and Endorsements", then has the heading "CONSULATE GENERAL ...

Our experience is not directly comparable because my wife didn't legally change her name in either country. My wife is a USC who came to Canada in 1987 when she married me. She took my surname as her new surname, but she wanted to use her old maiden name as her new middle name. She managed to get al...

Who are you dealing with? Did you call some central SS number? Often they know nothing about international issues. I went through somewhat the same problems changing my wife's name on her SS card. I called up the local SS office for my location (Niagara Falls for the GTA), and they were most helpful...

Stewak 2 says "I see that one can continue working while drawing CPP - so long as one continues to pay into it." Just a note of clarification: If you are between 60 and 65 and continue to work (in Canada) while receiving CPP, you must continue to contribute to CPP (actually to an equivalen...

Not that it is not necessary to put your SS number on your wife's married, filing separately 1040, unless she needs the extra exemption for an NRA spouse to lower her taxes to zero. If not, just list your name with (NRA) after it, and leave the spouse's SSN box empty.

Enter 365. The instructions for line 14 state: "Enter the number of days in your qualifying period that fall within 2014. Your qualifying period is the period during which you meet the tax home test and either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test." You were a bona fid...