Taxes For a US Citizen / Canadian PR

[Cheeseburger]

It is tax season and I am completely overwhelmed on how to proceed. I am US citizen and became a Canadian PR in December of 2014. So 2015 was my first year as a resident of Canada.

Here is a breakdown of my situation:
1) Most of my worldwide income came from my Canadian employer
2) For the first couple weeks of 2015, while in Canada, I was remotely finishing up a project for my former US employer and had about $1500 in income from that.
3) I have a Canadian and a US bank account each with more than $10k but less than $50k
4) I have a very small amount of interest income from those accounts
5) I sold my securities investments in early 2014 and held none in 2015, but I did have a capital loss in 2014, which technically carries over into 2015 as it was a bit over the $1500 max that can be reported in one year.
6) I make under $100k

I have no idea where to start. I don't want to be double taxed and I obviously want to file properly in both Canada and the US. I also don't have the money to spend thousands for an accountant.

Can a scenario like this be handled with something like TurboTax? Or is this far beyond its scope? I don't think I have the expertise to do this without the aid of software.

If I need an accountant/tax expert, would a cheaper option like H&R Block be able to do this? Or again is this out of their scope? Do I need a Canadian AND US accountant or could one handle it?

There are so many forms that need to be submitted to both countries and I am overwhelmed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

If you are unsure, I suggest you look for an accountant here in Canada that specializes in Canada-US taxing. They can take you through the whole process and then you will be prepared next year to do it yourself.

 

[spyfy]

I myself never used H&R block and the like, but from what I've heard from colleagues and friends that used it, is that H&R block can only handle the standard cases that you could file with a tax software and save lots of money. As soon as things get special, H&R has no idea and/or gets expensive. E.g. a friend of mine's spouse is eligible for some disability benefits and their H&R person had no idea what those even are.

I think it is worth going to an actual tax consultant. Use Google reviews and such to get an idea which one to pick, ask for their rate, then go. They aren't that expensive. I once asked one of the "star tax consultants" (author of many books on international taxation, even parliament asks him for his opinion and such) for his hourly rate and even he costs just 230 for a whole hour of consultation, which is not a lot for a true expert. A tax consultant around the corner, that still knows what he's doing, only charges 50 and still has good advice. Another one I met up with, I stole 20 minutes of his time, he gave me awesome advice and afterwards he charged me nothing at all, even when I sent him follow-up questions via email.

Generally, carryovers between different tax systems are hard to get. It seems to me that you have to file a mostly standard Canadian tax return but maybe have to ask for some foreign tax credits on tax paid in the USA. But now I'm just jibber-jabbing. Better ask a tax consultant. And as always: Every good tax consultant costs less than the amount of tax they save you

Good luck!

 

[Dave4236]

I have not moved to Canada yet but have been looking closely at the tax situation. You have to spend a certain amount of time paying attention to some of the details. As a US citizen you report to the IRS forever. There is a website that lists out IRS certified tax consultants for expats. www.acareturnpreparerdirectory.com/
The advice I had gotten from one investment place that made sense was have a PRO do it at least the first year and you can probably copy the same in future years.
There are also a number of reporting things that you have to watch out for. FATCA is a hot button for expats. The Canadian Tax Free Savings Accounts do not have a US equivalent and so are taxed. You have to be very careful also of investments to make sure any Passive Foreign Investments are properly covered. Those include just having some Canadian mutual funds.