Serbinski Accounting Firms

RH, it's overwhelmingly evident that you like to do everything the hard way.

Canuck, just do whatever Nelson says (at least, regarding tax matters. [:)]).

Re 529 plans, Matt please note you can sign up to any state's plan. There's no special advantage to enrolling in your own state's plan, other than that most states give a small tax break for contributions by residents. This is the last thing to consider, though. If Alabama's 529 is no good, it might...

Off topic for the original poster, but Pamela, are you saying you didn't get the CESG grant for contributions made in your move year? If you made the contributions before your move, it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't be grant-eligible. We moved mid-year and received CESG on contributions made ...

To get away from RESP reporting requirements in the US, I had my parents open a family plan for my child and her cousins, and then collapsed the plan of which I was the subscriber into the new plan. This is perfectly legal and effective so long as you can trust your parents with the money. :-) In th...

Fellows, I don't have such strong feelings (or extreme views) on this topic as either of you, but there's something about Rhollan's screeds that calls out for a response. According to the C.I.A. world factbook (presumably a source RH would consider trustworthy?) at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publication...

Thanks very much, Nelson. So you're recommending the same procedure as last year, except that new form 8891 is substituted for the RP-specified declarations. Evidently I confused myself with too much information by searching for form 8891 on IRS website. I was also prone to anxiety about where to se...

About the new IRS form 8891 for reporting Canadian RRSPs, the IRS release date for the darned form keeps receding. Currently at 1/24/2005 according to http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=109767,00.html As far as I can tell from checking out Intuit's website, TurboTax (my historic product of c...

In the US there are a couple of different inter-state compacts on driver's licences. Most but not all states have signed at least one of these. There's something similar in Canada between provinces. There is an initiative to standardize these both within the US and cross-border (it would be called t...

Re the original tsumani relief topic, the following link provides a large list of organizations currently accepting donations:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/1 ... .aidsites/

Not relevant to the tsunami relief effort, but re donations to Canadian charities, it may be useful to note that there's a specific exception to the rules cited above by Nelson, for Canadian universities attended by the taxpayer or close relative. Donations to one's Canadian Alma Mater are deductibl...

About the EAP withdrawal, note that a "normal" EAP is taken partly from earnings and partly from CESG money, according to the proportions of each in the plan. However, in order to get CESG money out of the plan, the student has to be a resident of Canada at the time of the payment. (This i...

Mark, where do you find 72(w)(1)? I've looked at a couple of online versions of the IRC and both show section (w) as a list of references only. I'm no tax expert, but I do wish to politely disagree with your statement "The law is clear in that it identifies RRSP amounts which were NEVER subject...

Hmm, are the allowances taxable because they are allowances rather than expenses? I was transferred to US in 2002 by my employer, with some services provided by a relocation company. Most of my moving costs were paid directly by the employer (via the relocation company I guess), and I was reimbursed...

Americans generally seem to rely a lot on personal recommendations when looking for a service provider of any kind, from plumber to doctor. We decided to try imitating this custom when looking for a mortgage on nonimmigrant status, and it worked wonderfully well. A friend at church recommended a mor...

Specific instructions for the SSN-less in Georgia are provided here:

http://www.dmvs.ga.gov/drivers/otherNations.asp