Canadian in USA on TN Visa - Tax Question

[vzrqd8]

I have the following questions and would really appreciate the help.

I moved to USA from Canada in April of 2011 along with my wife and kids on TN visa. Before moving to USA, I worked in Canada for the first 3 and half months of the year where I earned around 30K. I also have an account with TD Canada where I have around 30K as well as I have student loans in Canada of around 25K. Throughout the year 2011, my kids received CCTB in my wife's Canadian account..

Here are my questions:
1) As I have lived more than 183 days in USA for 2011, do I need to file the Canadian Income Tax return using just my Canadian earning for the first 3 1/2 months or do I need to include my earnings from USA as well? I will be filing the USA tax return with my earning in USA anyways.

2) If I file Canadian income tax using the earnings from Canada and USA, would I have to pay extra to Canada? What is your suggestion?
Also, what happens if I file my Canadian tax return with only Canadian income and no US income?

3) Do I need to file for Non-resident status in Canada? If that is the case what I need to do with my TD account / student loans and credit cards?

[nelsona]

You are considered a departing resident, an emigrant for Cdn tax purposes. You will file a departure return for 2011 with march departure date. It will only include world income up until that date, and some Cdb income thereafter.

You need to read the Emigrants guide from CRA. One thing you will need to do is retunr the CCTB and GST that you have received since you left. Your prov heayh card and drivers licenses are alos invalid, so I hope you have converted your life to US.

Your "TD accountt" id fine only if it is a bank account. If it is an RRSP it needs to be transfered to TD waterhouse, if it is a brokerage account it neeeds ato be closed and assets movesd te US.

You will have 2 choices in filing in US, and since you are married, you really only have one choice. You will file a FULL YEAR 1040 Married Joint reurn, reporting ALL 2011 income, including Cdn income, and then use a series of exemptions and credits so that your Cdn income is not taxed in US.

The other choice is called a dual-status retunr, but since this means filing sepaartely, and no standard deduction, I'm quite sure that this wpuld yield higher tax on your US income.

[vzrqd8]

What happens to my Canadian Credit Cards when I emigrate? Do I need to surrender them? I still carry debts on my Canadian credit cards, also I have OSAP loans to pay.

[nelsona]

You don't need to do anything with these, except keep paying them.

[vzrqd8]

Thanks a lot. Really appreciate your feedback.