CANADIANS BEWARE!!!
The April 15 deadline for filing your United States income tax
is less than a month away!
Now some of you will say that you have been
in the USA less than 180 days.
THAT DOESN”T MATTER!
The 180 days refers to your status as a
visitor under the immigration rules.
The Internal Revenue Service uses a different formula –
THE SUBSTANTIAL PRESENCE TEST –
which means if you are in the USA for more than 120 days,
you better pay attention!
Others will say that you earned no income in the USA,
and have no income to report.
THAT DOESN’T MATTER!
As I understand the rules, your income for US tax purposes is your world-wide income, which includes CANADA!
You don’t want to be filing 2 tax returns!
The solution to either scenario is the IRS form 8840 –
CLOSER CONNECTION EXCEPTION
STATEMENT FOR ALIENS.
If you complete this form (one per person) EVERY YEAR,
it verifies to the IRS that you are a Canadian,
and you should not have to get a
taxpayer identification number,
or file a US income tax return.
If you don’t submit this form by April 15,
you may be hassled coming into the US next time,
or worse have to file a US tax return
as well as a Canadian tax return!
And if you have a bank account in the US,
you should have filled out a W8-BEN form
so that your bank does not deduct tax
from any interest you earn!
The form 8840 is available on-line
and includes the instructions and (most importantly) the formula for calculating the Substantial Presence Test).
If you don’t have a printer, or you need any help,
you can talk to Ian at 502.
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