My brother has the following situation.
- He is a non-resident of Canada living and working in US on TN.
- His girlfriend is a Canadian resident, not a citizen yet.
- As of today, he files his US tax return only, she files her Canadian tax return only.
- He wants to marry her, but after marriage she is going to stay in Canada for some time (I think a year or 1.5 years) to meet her citizenship application criteria (3 years presence in Canada).
After applying for citizenship she is going to "depart" to him to the US.
The important question is:
- If they get married, will he need to start filing Canadian tax return??
Is there a choice to avoid this?
- And does it depend on whether they register their marriage in US or Canada?
With many thanks to your replies.
Marriage: Canadian non-resident and Canadian resident
Moderator: Mark T Serbinski CA CPA
Because he has already become non-resident, he will *probably* be able to avoid Cdbn taxation, even after marriage, as long as he does not establish other secondary ties, nor visit canada very often.
Where they marry is unimportant.
Hs marriage will change his US filing, since he will now either have to file married separately or jointly.
Where they marry is unimportant.
Hs marriage will change his US filing, since he will now either have to file married separately or jointly.
After 20 years, I am severely cutting back on responses. Do not ask specifically for my help. There are a few others on this board that can answer most questions. All the best
Nelson, just for my curiosity then -nelsona wrote:Because he has already become non-resident, he will *probably* be able to avoid Cdbn taxation, even after marriage, as long as he does not establish other secondary ties, nor visit canada very often.
1) How do IRS/CCRA verify dates of someone's presence/visits in USA/Canada?
2) Isn't marriage one of the "severe" ties with Canada?
They can ask about his wherabouts, and the border is controlled by the same ministry as CRA.
Pragmatically, the feds get no money when they make a claim against US income, since the foreign tax credit will be wipe out all Federal tax, and leave only prov tax. They therefore don't put up much of a fight for their greedy siblings.
As I said, a wife in canada is a major tie, however Canada's rules on tax residency allow for one who has Cdn residential ties to have them 'outweighed' by his US ones, and be a deemed non-resident by treaty.
His 'habitual abode', since he has already established non-residency,continues to be US.
If he were a Cdn going down to the US, and temporarily leaving his wife behind, this would be a different story.
Pragmatically, the feds get no money when they make a claim against US income, since the foreign tax credit will be wipe out all Federal tax, and leave only prov tax. They therefore don't put up much of a fight for their greedy siblings.
As I said, a wife in canada is a major tie, however Canada's rules on tax residency allow for one who has Cdn residential ties to have them 'outweighed' by his US ones, and be a deemed non-resident by treaty.
His 'habitual abode', since he has already established non-residency,continues to be US.
If he were a Cdn going down to the US, and temporarily leaving his wife behind, this would be a different story.
After 20 years, I am severely cutting back on responses. Do not ask specifically for my help. There are a few others on this board that can answer most questions. All the best
. The question was not about this. The question is - do you need to keep documents to prove where you are at certain dates (air tickets, etc.) or - they do "have" all this info.