filed taxes as Canadian/US resident for two years, now looking to file as US resident only

[benisaac]

Hello,

I moved from Canada to the US, on a TN visa, in January 2016. I have Canadian savings accounts, a Canadian investment account (mutual funds), an RRSP, TFSA, and GIC. Following the advice of my Canadian accountant, I filed tax returns for 2016 and 2017 as both an American and a Canadian resident. His logic was to avoid the CRA coming after me for back-taxes should I come back to Canada.

I've spoken with another accountant who said that he would file my 2018 tax returns as an American resident, and as a non-resident of Canada with a departure date of January 1, 2018. From speaking to this other accountant, I think he is correct in his approach, but I have some questions/concerns that I'm hoping I could receive advice on.

1. I have kept my TFSA open during my time in the US. My previous accountant declared this on the FBAR only. The other accountant I spoke with indicated that this was incorrect, and that he would report the TFSA as a foreign trust. My questions are: I didn't have any pushback from not reporting the TFSA as a foreign trust in 2016 and 2017. Was my previous accountant incorrect? If I report the TFSA as a foreign trust this year, could this lead to scrutiny of my not having done so in previous years? The new accountant I spoke with recommended shutting my TFSA down now. Since it is already 2019, if I were to do so now, would I still have to report my TFSA as a foreign trust for 2019? What would be the most sensible thing to do with this and my other investment account?

2. I went back to Canada and used the Ontario healthcare system in 2018. If I were to file as a non-resident of Canada with a departure date of January 1, 2018, would my actions in doing so put me on the hook to be billed by OHIP? Is there a realistic chance of this happening? I also renewed my OHIP card and Ontario driver's license in 2018. Is there anything that needs to or should be done about this, or the fact that my declared departure date would not technically have been the date I moved from Canada?

Any advice on these matters would be greatly appreciated.

[nelsona]

You should have filed a departure return in 2016., with a January departure date. Period. There is absolutely no basis for picking any other day.
And since you have gotten (bad) advide from TWO pros, I'll leave it at that.