Tax Recommendations - Living in California, Commuting to work in Canada

[Cwiggin]

To start off I filed for an extension with my wife this year since my tax situation this year is a bit more complicated than I'm used to.



I'm looking for a recommended tax accountant who is well versed with large foreign income as both Non-Resident and Resident Alien filings with residency in California which led me to this site. Has anyone used Serbinski for a similar situation?



The unique situation:

-Work takes place in Canada on a 2week in/out rotation. My tax home is Canada with a Canadian employer (non-contract; permanent employee). All work takes place on Canadian soil and no work takes place on US soil.

-Foreign Income is greater than the foreign income exclusion 104,100USD for 2018. I have no US based income; wife has only US based income.

-Non Resident up to June15/18 and Green Card holder after.


With being a green card holder I have to report all world income in USD equivalent. I understand that an FBAR will be required for all my foreign accounts.

I'm unclear on the best method to file given the situation and have played both with Married Filing Jointly and Separately in my software but get hung up with the foreign income part of things. I've concluded I need some experienced assistance.



My initial understanding was that the tax treaty would protect me from being double taxed in the USA since Canadian taxes are higher than USA based taxes. I have been using the Turbotax software like I have for the past decade and clearly I'm missing something. I've explored forms 2555, 1116 and many different publications and seems I'm in a bind.

Please forward me any recommendations with applicable details. I've started reaching out to some Expat style services including serbinski to gauge how effective they'll be but would like some feedback or recommendations.

[nelsona]

The first thing that would need to be establisis your ONE residence. Working in a country is NOT a primary residndentail tie. At first glance I would say you are a non-resident of Canada. And a full time resident of California. It is not a matter of choice.

What other ties do you have in Canada, that you do not have in California?

[Cwiggin]

I would say I'm a non-resident however because of bank accounts/work/previous history I would assume CRA may look at me as a Resident for tax purposes.
Details:
I was born a Canadian Citizen and recently immigrated but still maintain my job. All my blood relatives live in Canada. I don't see them when I go to work and my work takes care of all flights and I stay in a work camp facility. I would also say I'm a non-resident under this consideration however I still have all my retirement savings accounts in whole along with my Canadian bank account which receives my pay cheques bi-monthly. I still have an Alberta Drivers License but all my vehicles are in the USA and imported(to USA) with exception to one which is in-operable at the moment and I will officially import it when it's online again(stored in USA). I haven't owned a home in Canada for over 8 years. All my work is performed in Canada. Under this premise I assumed Canada would see me as a resident for tax purposes.

I have not pulled the trigger yet on my Canadian filing yet as the turbotax software shows that it's actually 2k more to file as a non-resident in comparison to the Alberta filing. I've been catching up on threads in here but there is a lot of reading and the search function is poor but saw a previous post by yourself about having to utilize forms method as mentioned in a guide (which I have yet to find). I also sent Serbinski the fee for their services weeks ago but upon my inquiry they were backed up until May at the earliest. I will likely file as a Non-Resident unless I find out other information.

The USA filing is the one I'm concerned with primarily and have reached out to several other CPA's as well that have been recommended to me on this. Hopefully Serbinski is available in May. I hate asking for help on this stuff but greatly appreciate your time.

[nelsona]

You are not a Cdn resident. You need to choose your (past) departure date.

[Cwiggin]

Departure date was June15 as loaded in the software.

[nelsona]

You need to get Cali DL NOW. You had 30 days from when you moved.
Since your GC is marriage based, you will be filing a full-year 1040 joint with your spouse, reporting ALL income for year.
In Canada you will be filing a departure return, reporting WORLD income until your departure date, and Cdn wages afterwards.

You are not eligible for the foreign wage exclusion due to insufficient time in US, but you can take credit for Cdn taxes on your Cdn return (and CPP and EI conribs) on one or more Form 1116s.

That is about all I can give you given your late arrival to this site.

Maybe July....

[nelsona]

For Canada you DO NOT file as a non-resident, you file as a departing resident of AB. You don't file asa non-resident until the year AFTER you leave.

[Cwiggin]

Thanks Nelson, I have a California Drivers License, SSN so we’re good there. US Bank Accounts and credit building already with new vehicle.

For my US return I did understand the full year joint return and thank you for re-affirming.

For the World income up to departure date from Canada on the Canadian return does this include my wife? I would assume no in which case all my world income is the same since all my wages are Canadian and remain unchanged. If I am missing something here please correct me.

Again thanks for the detail on the FEIE; I followed the workflow and it mentioned having to be out of US for 330days or more.

I will look at the form 1116s...that is definitely a detail I was missing.

Thanks for the detail on filing as a departing resident, that re-affirms with another reply of yours I found to a fellow on here.

You are awesome and sorry I couldn’t have been here earlier...I thought it would be easier than this.

[nelsona]

Unless your spouse was a Cdn resident, she has no Cdn filing.Cdns file separtely as you are surely aware. If she was in, she too would need to file a departure return of her own. But even if she doesn't file, you may have to include her income of page 1, just to make sure that you do not get any benefit in Canada based on having a non-working spouse.

[Cwiggin]

No my wife is an American Citizen and has only ever worked in the USA.

Yes I've ensured to not claim spousal benefits on the Canadian return.