Subject
- Posted on
More on this Canadian thing
- 04-21-2011
April 21, 2011, 1:26 pm
resident. Assume though that I am essentially living there full-time.
I have earned income, income (actually a small loss) from a rental
property in Florida, a moderate amount of self-employment income
(about $10K), and some investment income from USA sources.
Which of the income other than the earned income is taxable by Canada?
Do I have any liability for state taxes, if I don't actually have a
residence in the USA?
Am I eligible to claim the Foreign Earned Income Credit on the bona
fide test if I spend less than 330 days a year in Canada, but have no
other substantial connection to the USA - no residence, no car, no job
with a USA employer, etc. I would still have my bank and investment
accounts.
I think I can avoid paying self-employment tax on the self-employment
income, assuming the work is performed in Canada and I claim it as
Canadian income. This would be a pretty big help, as presently my SE
tax is small (since I make the FICA maximum at my other job, I pay
only the Medicare portion) but if I move, I would not have any other
income subject to FICA. Is this correct, that I can avoid the SE tax?
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Re: More on this Canadian thing
Canadian citizens and residents are taxed on their worldwide income,
to the best of my knowledge. So all of it is taxable. I don't know
how they do depreciation. Your Florida property is 27.5 year property
in the US, with only the house depreciated, not the land. But in
Canada maybe it is 40 year property, or maybe they don't do
depreciation at all, etc.
I think not. But the criterion is not whether you have a residence/
house in the US. The criterion is whether you intend to ever return
to the state or maintain strong connections with that state. My gut
reaction should be to de-register to vote that, terminate your CA
driver's license, etc to prove that you truly are not a resident.
QUOTE http://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/canada.html
Before the agreement, employees, employers and self-employed persons
could, under certain circumstances, be required to pay Social Security
taxes to both the United States and Canada for the same work.
Under the agreement, if you work as an employee in the United States,
you normally will be covered by the United States, and you and your
employer will pay Social Security taxes only to the United States. If
you work as an employee in Canada, you normally will be covered by
Canada, and you and your employer will pay Social Security taxes
(contributions) only to Canada.
On the other hand, if your employer sends you from one country to work
for that employer or an affiliate in the other country for five years
or less, you will continue to be covered by your home country and you
will be exempt from coverage in the other country. For example, if a
U.S. company sends an employee to work for that employer or an
affiliate in Canada for no more than five years, the employer and the
employee will continue to pay only U.S. Social Security taxes and will
not have to pay in Canada. Even if your occupation (such as truck
driver or professional athlete) requires you to make frequent short
trips from one country to the other over a period of more than five
years, each trip can be considered separately so that you remain
covered only by the country from which you are sent.
If you are self-employed and residing in the United States or Canada,
you generally will be covered and taxed only by the country where you
reside.
END QUOTE
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Re: More on this Canadian thing
All of the income is taxable in Canada as you are resident in Canada.
Each state is different. Some will recognize that you are no longer
resident in that state while others will not recognize that you have
established residency in another country and therefore will consider
your state residency still to be in their state.
Yes, but why? Most residents in Canada find it better to claim the
foreign tax credit since the Canadian tax rate exceeds the US. They
end up paying no US taxes as a result.
No, you can not avoid paying the SE tax. You will only change where
you pay it. Instead of paying into the US SE tax system, you will pay
into the Canadian system.
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Re: More on this Canadian thing
I would much rather pay Canadian SE tax. I will make the maximum
taxable wage base for the CPP in Canada, so I won't owe anything (I
don't think). If I were to pay SE tax in the USA, my otherwise-taxed
wages would be zero, so I'd owe the full 15.3%.
On the other topic, I think I can sever ties with my state in the
USA. I'd be living with my wife in Canada in her house, I might have
furniture in storage here in the USA but there would be no visible
signs of intent to return. I wouldn't vote in the USA.
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Re: More on this Canadian thing
If that is your choice, move to Canada. Let me know early enough if
you want someone to prepare the Canadian/US tax returns... The first
couple of years can be difficult.
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Re: More on this Canadian thing
FYI, US citizens who are residents of other countries are eligible to
vote in Federal elections in the last place in the US that they lived.
This does not make them US residents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_and_Overseas_Citizens_Absentee_Voting_Act
Someone else claimed that Canada taxes worldwide income of citizens and
residents. Residents yes, non-resident citizens, no.
Is there any country other than the US that taxes the income of non-resident
citizens? I'm not aware of any.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly
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Re: More on this Canadian thing
None that I am aware of with the possible exception of Eritrea (formerly
a province of Ehiopia). I recently read an article from the viewpoint of
Eritrea emigrants, that said Eritrea has a 2% income tax that they try
(my word) to collect from emigrants. The actual words used in the
article were that mafia methods were used to collect the tax.
--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net
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