Can I deduct my RRSP contribution on Schedule 1?

[peer]

There's conflicting info online. This page from Serbinski suggests it's possible:
https://www.serbinski.com/working-in-usa/rrsp

Because an RRSP is not a "qualified" plan for U.S. tax purposes, contributions made in Canada are deductible for U.S. purposes in a limited way. Article XVIII(8) of the Convention permits the deduction of RRSP contributions for U.S. purposes if certain conditions are met, limited to the amount which would otherwise be deductible for a contribution to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). U.S. tax on earnings in the plan attributable to Canadian contributions are deferred until there is a distribution if proper disclosure of the existence of the RRSP is made each year (as described below). This results in U.S. tax generally will being imposed in the same years that Canadian tax is imposed, so that U.S. citizens, green card holders, and residents may credit the Canadian tax against their U.S. tax liability.

But I'm not clear on the details. Do I assume it's similar to a traditional IRA, and write $6000 on Schedule 1, Part II, line 20?

I've contributed well over $6000 USD/year to my RRSP for the past 6 years, but have never thought to deduct it, and that would come in handy now to put my income under the $112000 limit for the FEIC.

[nelsona]

One can only deduct GROUP RRSP contributions through workplace. Personal RRSP deductions are not deductible in US.

The amount of workplace contributions you can deduct is NOT the IRA limit, but the 401(K) limit for the year, and one would simply reduce their wage amount, by the contribution. Any references to an IRA in serbinski's atricle are incorrect. In fact even the treaty article that touches on your situation is noy XVIII(8), but rather XVIII(12) which refrs solely to employer sponsored retirement plans.

Be careful however, even if you have made qualifying contributions, as even if they should lower your US taxable income, it is unlikely that you would pay US tax in any event on any of your CDn income, so creating future taxable income when you don't need to may not be in your best interest down the road.

[nelsona]

XVIII(15) explains that it is only employer-sponsored contributions, and "not an individual arrangement in respect of which the individual's employer has no involvement"

[peer]

Thanks for the clear information, and the point about future taxable income. Didn't think about that.

I'll look at switching to the FTC instead of the FEIE this year.

[nelsona]

I believe that once you elect to use FEIE, you can't switch without expressed permission from IRS.

However, it shouldn;t really matter, since any income that exceeds FEIE should be handled by 1116 in any event, removing any reamining taxation.

[ND]

RE:I believe that once you elect to use FEIE, you can't switch without expressed permission from IRS.
You can revoke and include law citation attachment in 1040. Then, you can't revoke the revocation for five years. But, there's endless amounts of what to be said on topic once one has dug deeper.