1,423 plain-English guides on cross-border moves, US and Canadian returns, and small-business money. Each one ends in what to do next, and says when a written Position Check is the smarter first step.
September 14, 2026
Capital gains on US stocks and ETFs sold by a Canadian resident are taxed by Canada alone: the US does not tax a nonresident's portfolio gains, no withholding applies to sale proceeds, and no US filing results from ordinary trading. The exceptions — real-estate-heavy companies and the 183-day trap — are narrow. Here is the clean rule and its edges.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian employee who answers email from the Florida condo is performing employment in the United States — US-source income by the basic rule. The treaty's short-stay exemption usually rescues the snowbird who works a little; the formula stops rescuing people who work a lot, and self-employment runs on different rules entirely. Here is where the lines sit.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Birth on US soil makes the child a US citizen automatically — snowbird winters, work postings, and border-hospital deliveries have created thousands of accidental Americans in Canadian families. The citizenship brings lifelong US filing obligations that lie dormant through childhood and activate with the child's first income, first TFSA, and first job. Here is the timeline, and the choices at each stage.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Supporting family on the other side of the border raises the same question in both directions: does the support earn anything on the tax return? Canada's dependant credits can extend to non-resident dependants with strict substantiation; the US's dependent rules mostly stop at its borders for credits that pay. Here is what each system allows, and the records that make claims survive.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Canadian retirement benefits travel south cleanly: CPP and OAS are paid to US residents, the treaty makes them taxable only in the US — where they slot into the Social Security rules, taxed on at most 85% — and the OAS recovery tax does not apply to US residents. Here is how the benefits work from the other side of the border.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A cross-border couple's survivor is usually entitled under both systems: a CPP survivor's pension from the Canadian record, Social Security survivor benefits from the American one — each payable across the border, each taxed by the survivor's residence country, and each with claiming rules that reward sequencing. Here is what the widowed spouse of a cross-border worker actually receives.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Each country's donation relief runs on its own registry — but the treaty opens two doors: gifts to the other country's charities can be claimed against income from that country, and gifts to a college or university you or your family attended are treated like domestic donations outright. Here is the claiming matrix, and the routing that makes big cross-border gifts fully creditable.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian studying in the US can still claim Canadian tuition credits — if the school certifies a TL11A and the program meets the rules. An American (or dual) student at a Canadian university can claim US education credits — if the school participates in US federal aid. Two systems, two forms, and families that plan claims on both. Here is the matrix.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The departure-day deemed sale has a precise perimeter: registered plans, Canadian real estate, and short-term residents' property sit outside it; portfolios, private shares, and foreign property sit inside. Three forms carry the event — T1161 lists, T1243 computes, T1244 defers. Here is the property-by-property map and the filing mechanics.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Canada lets emigrants postpone the departure tax until the property actually sells — interest-free, for as long as it takes — by electing on Form T1244 and posting security above a modest threshold. For private company shares and illiquid assets the deferral is the difference between a paper tax and a cash crisis. Here is the election end to end, and the pay-versus-defer decision.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Canada's departure tax is a deemed sale: leave, and most of your property is treated as sold at fair market value the day you go, with the accrued gains taxed on your final return. But the biggest asset classes — your home, your RRSP, your pension — are exempt, so many movers owe far less than they fear. Here is what is in, what is out, and how the bill is computed.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A cross-border divorce runs one settlement through two tax systems that disagree about almost everything: Canada deducts spousal support the US no longer does, the treaty referees payments that cross, property transfers roll over differently, and dividing an RRSP or a 401(k) each has its own machinery. Here is the map for separating couples with a border between them.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Most Canadian services and goods supplied to non-resident US customers are zero-rated: you charge 0% GST/HST and still claim back the tax on your own inputs. But zero-rating is a conclusion, not a default — it depends on what you supply, to whom, and where it's used, and the exceptions bite real businesses. Here is the decision path invoice by invoice.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Moving to Canada does not end a US citizen's or green card holder's IRS filing obligation — the US taxes by citizenship, not address. What changes is the shape of the return: foreign tax credits, new information forms, and a system where you usually owe little or nothing but must file everything. Here is the annual package for an American in Canada.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian snowbird with nonresident status pays US tax on nothing Canadian: not the pension, not the RRIF, not the Canadian dividends spent in Florida. The US claim reaches only US-source items — and even those are mostly settled by withholding. Here is the sourcing line, item by item, and the two mistakes that pull Canadian income across it.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Immigration status and tax residency run on different rails: a TN (or H-1B) confers no tax status by itself, and a green card confers it absolutely. What makes a TN worker a US tax resident is the substantial presence test — a day-count formula most full-time transferees satisfy within their first year — with the closer connection exception and the treaty tie-breaker as the escape hatches for genuine commuters. Here is how the pieces fit.
Read more →September 14, 2026
When one child files a 1040 and the other doesn't, identical bequests aren't equal: Canadian mutual funds, trust interests, and TFSA-style assets punish the American heir, while US-situs assets suit them fine. Asset-matched wills leave each child what their tax system treats kindly and equalize by value. Here is the matching logic and the drafting that implements it.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian company entering the US can operate directly — a branch of the Canadian corporation — or through a US subsidiary. The tax difference is smaller than folklore says (the branch profits tax exists to make it so), which is why the real decision usually turns on liability, customers, financing, and the exit. Here is the honest comparison.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Lending money to family across the border runs through two interest-rate regimes at once: Canada's prescribed-rate rules decide attribution, the US applicable federal rates decide imputed interest and deemed gifts, and an undocumented loan fails both. Here is how each system treats family credit, the cross-border pairings that work, and the loan file that survives scrutiny.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The first T1 after moving to Canada is a part-year return with its own rules: world income only from the arrival date, personal credits prorated by days, benefits that require separate applications, and an entry date the whole return keys off. Here is what goes on it, what stays off it, and the mistakes newcomers make with pre-arrival income.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The arrival-year US return comes in two flavors: a dual-status return that splits the year (no standard deduction, no joint filing) or an election to be taxed as a full-year resident (all benefits, but worldwide income for the whole year with foreign tax credits doing the cleanup). The right choice depends on your pre-move Canadian income. Here is how each works and how to pick.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian company hiring in Boise — or a US company hiring in Barrie — takes on the employee's country's payroll system: registration, withholding, social contributions, and employment law, plus a permanent-establishment question about what the employee does. The employer-of-record industry exists to rent the answer. Here is the build-versus-rent decision and the compliance map either way.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The number snowbirds trade at the pool — six months, 182 days — is an immigration figure, not the tax one. The tax formula weights three years of days and trips people at around 122 days a winter; the fix is a one-page form filed on time. Here is the actual arithmetic, the thresholds that matter, and the annual routine that keeps Canadian snowbirds clean.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The health savings account is the most America-specific account there is, and it shows at the border: contributions must stop, the US keeps the triple tax benefit, and Canada taxes the account's growth annually with no treaty relief. Here is what an HSA becomes in Canada, and why the standard plan is a deliberate spend-down on qualified expenses.
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