To Claim or not Claim on 1040NR?

workingintheus · Post by **workingintheus** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:13 pm

I'm a Canadian working in the US on an TN visa commuter. A number of other Canadian Commuters have advise me to obtain an ITIN number for my family so I can claim them as dependents on my US tax return. My thoughts are why bother, when at the end of the day I'm going to pay Canadian taxes to the full extent I would have if I worked in Canada.

In short. is there any benefit to claiming dependents ( and minimizing my US tax obligation) vs single on the 1040NR. Just to have to turn around and pay it to the Canadian Government

Thanks

Carson · Post by **Carson** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:54 pm

Usually no benefit for the reason you state, but you might want to do a proforma Canadian return assuming US taxes calculated as a single and make sure that you fully absorb the foreign tax credit (US Federal, State tax paid, plus SocSec and Medicare withheld).

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:25 pm

As Carson sez, there is no need to be overly aggressive in reducing your US tax burden if it is lower than your Cdn one, you are merely shifting your tax dollar from US to Canada (to the province, actually).

However, many Ontarians commuting to NY or MI do find that their Cdn combined taxrate is LOWER that the 1040NR rate.