Live/work Alberta with US income. Tax home NV or foreign?

[trailboss]

My current US tax home is Montana, which is killing me. Should I change my tax home to Nevada (I have family there) or declare my residence and tax home is foreign? Is there an advantage to having a tax home in Nevada?

[nelsona]

If you live and work in AB, then NO state is your tax home. You shouldn't be filing a state return anywhere.

[trailboss]

My hesitancy to declare foreign address stems from bad prior experience. Raymond James and Vanguard basically will not do business without a US mailing address. The State Street pension folks immediately began deducting a higher federal tax rate when I tried to change my address to Canada since I became a foreigner in their eyes. Have others run into these issues, or am I the only lucky one?

It seems maintaining at least a US mailing address is mandatory - am I giving up too easily?

Perhaps the best approach is have my mailing address in Nevada, but declare no tax home in the US (as you assert). Then I can continue doing business with finicky investment firms with my US assets (all after-tax investments of course).

[nelsona]

I never support spoofing an address.

And a fake foreign address doesn't avoid the fact that you are a Cdn resident, and foreign brokers are not allowed to deal with you (in non-sheltered accounts). So unless vanguard and RayJay are IRAs, they shouldn't be dealing with you at all.

vanguard does accept Cdn residents for IRA.

For pension, Offshore tax address withholding might be higher, but that won't change your final tax. It is a minor inconvenience compared to faking a life in US.

And a mailbox doesn't make you a US resident either.

[nelsona]

Btw, if you submit a W-9 to your pension admin, that are not required to withhold you as if you were a foreign person,