My wife and I live in Canada, my wife is both a US and Canadian citizen and I am a Canadian citizen. With respect to my wife claiming US taxes, can both the foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credit be claimed at the same time, given the former applies only to earned income and the latter applies only to unearned income? What I've read in the IRS publications and elsewhere confuses me on this matter, and I am aware that there is a potential downside to claiming and then not claiming one or both of these (i.e. a waiting period until they can be claimed again). Please explain
Another question, my wife's mother just died and left my wife and her brother a house in the US. What are our best options for dealing with this in the estate settlement and from a tax point of view - 1. the US resident brother takes title and buys my wife out, 2. they hold joint title, 3. they sell the house and split the proceeds, etc. If this is too broad a question could you please direct me to some reader-friendly publication or information?
Although I've read alot of IRS publications and we have talked to IRS staff I'm really struggling getting clear information. I have not been able to find a local tax accountant who is familar and has the confidence to advise on our US tax filing, so this forum is a godsend.
thanks for any help you can give me
New to the forum
Moderator: Mark T Serbinski CA CPA
The choice on 2555 or 1116 applies only to earned income (ie wages).It is this portion of income that IRS considerd that you have made a choice or not to exclude.
Once one has switched from 2555 to 1116 for wages, one must wait to use 2555 for some time. The guides on 2555 have this info.
On the estate issue, since the mother has died, there is nothing that can be done now in regards to her estate. Any advantageous position -- if there were any -- would have to have been done before she died.
Since your wife owning any property that is not her home makes it taxable in her hands in canada, I might suggest that your wife divest herself of these US holdings, so 1 or 3 woud be my options. if she sells now, whether to her brother or another party, there should be no Cdn tax for her to pay.
Once one has switched from 2555 to 1116 for wages, one must wait to use 2555 for some time. The guides on 2555 have this info.
On the estate issue, since the mother has died, there is nothing that can be done now in regards to her estate. Any advantageous position -- if there were any -- would have to have been done before she died.
Since your wife owning any property that is not her home makes it taxable in her hands in canada, I might suggest that your wife divest herself of these US holdings, so 1 or 3 woud be my options. if she sells now, whether to her brother or another party, there should be no Cdn tax for her to pay.
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 confusion remains. Can I use both 2555 and 1116 at the same time, 2555 to cover earned income and 1116 to cover unearned income? We've been using 2555 for a number of years and have had to pay no US tax. Now my wife has a number of investments that have accrued interest which are not covered by the 2555, so I'm wondering whether I can use the 1116 to cover just the unearned income.
With respect to investments, and from a US tax point of view, is it disadvantageous to have accounts in joint names? Most of our larger accounts are mine (Canadian husband) in the sense that I made the contributions and paid the Canadian taxes on any income/dividends/capital gain, so I'm concerned that I've unwisely made my accounts liable to US taxation.
With respect to investments, and from a US tax point of view, is it disadvantageous to have accounts in joint names? Most of our larger accounts are mine (Canadian husband) in the sense that I made the contributions and paid the Canadian taxes on any income/dividends/capital gain, so I'm concerned that I've unwisely made my accounts liable to US taxation.
As I said, the choice to use 2555 or 1116 applkies only to wages. Tax relief on all other forms of income MUST come from 1116, so no option is avaialble. So, expicitly, YES you can use 2555 and 1116 at the same time. It is rare to get to zero tax by 2555 alone, so most have to use 1116 to get cresdit for the remaining forms of income.
If you have kids, you should actually be getting moneyFROM IRS if you use 1116, so you might want to switch permanently to 1116 anyways.
I'll let you figutre out the joint issue.
If you have kids, you should actually be getting moneyFROM IRS if you use 1116, so you might want to switch permanently to 1116 anyways.
I'll let you figutre out the joint issue.
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