Canadian Citizen- US Resident Spouse Question?
Moderator: Mark T Serbinski CA CPA
Canadian Citizen- US Resident Spouse Question?
My wife and I got married early 2012. I'm a Canadian citizen, she's a U.S resident with a green card, originally from central america. The few previous times she had tried to come visit in Canada she was sent into secondary inspection and harassed. So we got married. Immediately following her marriage I got her a visitor record. We had a son in the spring of 2012. She didn't cross much into Canada until end of may when her maternity leave ended and she had to return to work. I gave up my job, and my son came over to live with me and my other daughter who I have primary custody of. Anyways, from end of May onwards, my wife would commute back and forth during the week and we would spend the weekends at her house in the states. Though she spends occasional nights mid week as well when she's on call or has a night shift. I finally decided to follow thru and sponsor my wife in late fall 2012, as my ex won't allow our daughter to move to the U.S. We received confirmation that the sponsosrhip was approved in early 2013 and now her application is being processed which I believe takes a year. My wife still has her condo in the states, which she has had for over two years, is employed about an hour from the border, has her bank account, credit cards, health insurance, her doctor, gym membership, drivers license, car registered in the states, and our son was born in the us and has his family doctor in the states as well. Though we're now both on each others bank accounts. Mine on hers in the U.S. and hers on mine here. To facilitate the money she sends as she supports us 100% now. Canada customs told her a few times she could move to Canada while waiting for the application to be approved but she doesn't want to. She doesen't want to jeapordize her status her Green card with no status here and when it comes thru she intends to switch to a commuter green card until such time we can all move back. So for now all her property remains in the U.S. And though our son lives with me primarily I have not applied for the universal child care benefit yet. I thought that might cause a problem. My question is how would we do our taxes for 2012? In 2013? My income in 2012 will be about $26k, hers $200k. In 2012 she spent less then half the year in Canada. We filed an extension to her 2012 taxes so we could figure this out and find someone to do them for us. I would appreciate any help and guidance on our situation. Thanks