Canadian file required or not

[shembs]

Hello,

If my previous Canadian employer issued a T4 for a retroactive pay regarding union contract negotiation delays for 3k Cad and deducted income tax, EI, Cpp etc, am I required to file a Canadian NR tax return? Or can I just input this information when filing with IRS as I am now a US resident for some years now. I am not interested in a Canadian refund.

[nelsona]

Unlike US, the requirement to file or not is not based on income. It is based on whether you owe tax or not. In your case, the wages are exempt because they are less that 10K. You do not have to file.

In US report the income as foreign wages, You would not be able to claim a foreign tax credit however, sicne you did not legally owe trhe tax that was withheld.

[shembs]

So, in other words no need to file a Canadian NR return even though T4 was issued as it is treaty exempt wages?

I understand to declare it with my US return, but would I need to include anywhere the already minimal Canadian tax paid on it? Just curious as I've never done this before.

[nelsona]

AS I said, since you do not owe those taxes in canada, you cannot claim them as a credit in US.