US SS if Canadian Resident

[cammy7]

I have a question about reporting government pensions on tax returns. I'm dual citizen living in Canada. I've read the various post and want to confirm the following:

On my Canadian return (I'm resident)
- US SS at 85%

On my US return (non resident)
- Foreign gov't pensions (e.g. CPP not reportable, only in country of domicile)
- US Social Security received in Canada (not reportable, only in country of domicile)

Thank You....

[nelsona]

CPP and OAS are not reportable on your 1040, nor is SS. All other income is reportable.

You *should* attach a Form 8833 to your return explaining this treaty benefit, but not absolutely mandatory.

You will likely get a flag from the IRS that you did not report your SS, so you might want to be proactive in filing the 8833.

[exPenn]

Just one quibble about your statement that you report 85% of your US SS on your Canadian return. Actually, you report 100% of your US SS as Pension Income on line 11500 of the T1 General Tax Return. This is included in your Net Income at line 23600. It is only then that you can subtract 15% of your SS as per the Canada - US Tax Treaty at line 25600, in calculating your Taxable Income at line 26000. Your Basic Tax is calculated from your Taxable Income, which includes only 85% of your SS. However, your Net Income, which includes 100% of your SS is used to calculate several Non Refundable Tax Credits.

[nelsona]

Yes, good point exPenn.

The same holds for any Roth income that is not taxable: report all as pension income and then subtract on 25600