Withdrawing from TFSA as Non-Resident in US & Canada

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yeezy_szn
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:05 pm

Withdrawing from TFSA as Non-Resident in US & Canada

Post by yeezy_szn »

Similar to this question viewtopic.php?f=2&t=472339&sid=4a0ce02f ... a188ec0722, I am a Canadian citizen living and working in the US. I left Canada in 2019 and am currently working in US as a non-resident under a F1 visa. I'm technically a non-resident in both countries I believe - for the US, I'm on an F-1 visa so I am considered a non-resident, and for Canada I don't have any housing ties or family ties (though I do have secondary ties in the form of my bank accounts that I haven't liqudated yet).

I am trying to withdraw money from my TFSA so I don't have to pay taxes on it when I eventually become a US resident for tax purposes (when I switch to H1B hopefully sometime in the next few years). My confusion is my Canadian bank is requiring me to fill out a W9, which states I am a US Person even though I am not. I spent a lot of time on the phone with them asking if there is some equivalent nonresident form I can submit but they said no, only W9 will do otherwise I'll have to pay 24% withholidng tax.

I saw the advice in the other post is to submit the W9, but I'm wondering what are the implications of this? I still plan on filing as a non resident in US and not filing in Canada since I have no Canadian income and am considered a nonresident there too, so I worry that stating I am a resident on the W9 conflicts with filing a 1040NR.

Thank you very much for any help you can provide!
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