Canadian in US on TN with a plot twist

[ekgiles]

Hi there!

I am a Canadian citizen, arrived in the USA (MA) during the first week of June, 2015 on a one year TN status "visa". I worked at one location all the way through to the end of 2015 (am still working there). I did not earn any other income in the USA or anywhere else in the world from my arrival date until now.

Plot twist is that I worked remotely for a US company from January-June (before I arrived). I did all of this work while physically present in Canada (never on USA soil), I signed a W8-BEN with the company, and they sent all my earnings directly to Canada without witholding tax. I will be filing this January-June remote income with Canada on my 2015 tax return. I will also be filing my June-December USA income with Canada hopefully using tax credits, as I will be filing as a resident and understand that I need to report wold-wide income.

My question is: how do I go about doing my USA taxes? I meet the substantial presence test for 2015, however I was only here for half the year. Do I file as a resident, non-resident, or dual? My TN company here has been witholding tax as if I am a resident for tax purposes. Also, do I report (on my USA tax return) the earnings that I made remotely before I arrived in the USA? Or does the W8-BEN mean that I don't need to worry about these earnings for my USA tax return and can just report them in Canada?

A bit about me in case it helps: I am filing as single, no dependents, no assets or anything fancy like that. I rent an apartment in the USA, have health coverage, USA bank and credit cards. In Canada I have credit cards, bank accounts just to pay bills, drivers license, health insurance, etc. I will be applying for a TN renewal this year for one more year, after which I will be going back to Canada.

Thank you for any and all of your help!