Dual Canada and US resident for Tax purposes

[dmarush]

Hi,
This summer I will be moving to California for work (L1B visa). My family will stay here in Ontario for another year, so my daughter can finish the high school. After this they will join me in CA and my daughter is planning to go to a university there.
It looks like for this year and the next one, I will be considered a resident for tax purposes by both USA (as I will meet substantial presence test) and Canada (as my family is still there. Can one actually be a tax resident of both countries at the same time? what are the tax implications? I have looked at tie-breaker rules, but my situation is moot as I have homes in both places, I live, work and get money and have friends in US, but my family is still in Canada.

Advice is appreciated!

[nelsona]

Form what you say, you can probably consider yourself Cdn tax resident for this short period of time, but by strict CDn rules, since you do have homes in both countries, and will be spending more time in US than Canada, CRA could "push" you into deemed non-resident status. I don't think you are at that point yet.

Your residency status for US purposes really doesn't matter: treaty rules allow Cdns to ALWAYS file as US residents if they wish.

Canada does NOT allow one to file in any other status that based on ones residency.

So, it comes down to whether you want to continue paying CDn tax on world income, or if you want to stop, and depart Canada. That will depend on the number and frequency of your visits to Canada, as opposed to your family visits to US.