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.
October 1, 2026
Canada's departure tax explained: the deemed disposition of most property at fair market value when you emigrate, what's excluded (Canadian real estate, RRSPs, pensions), the election to defer with security, Forms T1161, T1243, and T1244, and the U.S. basis election that prevents double tax.
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A Canadian company selling on Amazon's U.S. marketplace with its inventory in Amazon's U.S. fulfillment centers asks whether it now has a U.S. business: its goods sit in U.S. warehouses and ship to U.S. customers. The treaty's exception for stock kept for storage and delivery usually protects it from federal tax, the marketplace facilitator laws handle most state sales tax, but the states' income and franchise taxes, the import rules, and the protective federal filing still need attention. Here is each.
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Canadian family businesses pass to the next generation through estate freezes, family trusts, and share transfers — and when a child lives in the United States or is a U.S. citizen, every step lands on a U.S. taxpayer: shares of a Canadian corporation that may be a controlled foreign corporation or a passive foreign investment company, a family trust that's a foreign trust, and an inheritance that triggers U.S. reporting. Here is how the standard Canadian succession tools behave for a U.S. heir, and how to plan around them.
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Canada's foreign tax credit explained: how Canadian residents credit U.S. tax on U.S. income on Form T2209, the separate business and non-business limits, the provincial credit for the excess, the 15 percent cap on property income credits, and the deduction alternative.
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A Canadian consultant, engineer, designer, or developer billing U.S. clients through a Canadian corporation usually owes the United States nothing — the services are performed in Canada, the corporation has no U.S. permanent establishment, and the client withholds nothing if it has the right form. The exposure starts with the days worked on U.S. soil, a U.S. office, or a state that asserts nexus the treaty doesn't block. Here is the clean structure and the lines that break it.
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Canadian retirees who move to Florida, explained: once U.S. residents, the U.S. taxes worldwide income while Canada withholds on Canadian pensions, RRIFs, and rent — CPP and OAS taxed only in the U.S., RRIFs with 15 percent Canadian withholding, and no Florida income tax at all.
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The Canadian snowbird six-month rule explained: the immigration limit on visitor stays (separate from the tax day count), the alien registration requirement for Canadians staying 30 days or more, the substantial presence test, and the provincial health coverage rules that cap time away.
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Canadian income tax instalments explained: who must pay quarterly instalments (more than C$3,000 owing in the current year and either of the two prior years), the March, June, September, and December due dates, the three calculation options, and the interest and penalty for late payments.
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The Canadian tax return for non-residents explained: when a non-resident must file (Canadian employment, business, or a property sale), the elective returns for rent (section 216) and pensions (section 217), claiming refunds of over-withheld tax, the surtax instead of provincial tax, and the deadlines.
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Canadian families use trusts — family trusts holding a business's shares, testamentary trusts from an estate, alter ego and spousal trusts — and when a beneficiary lives in the United States or is a U.S. citizen, the trust is a foreign trust to the IRS. Distributions of current income are taxed simply; distributions of income the trust accumulated in earlier years trigger the throwback tax and an interest charge. Here is the U.S. beneficiary's reporting, the throwback, the grantor trust exception, and the Canadian 21-year rule's interaction.
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Canada's capital gains inclusion rate explained: only a portion of a capital gain is taxed — currently one-half — how the proposed increase to two-thirds was announced in 2024 and cancelled in 2025, how the rate affects cross-border sales, and the comparison with U.S. capital gains rates.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Changing domicile to Florida explained: domicile versus residency, the five factors former states examine (home, business, time, near-and-dear items, family), the paper trail that supports the move, the statutory residency trap of keeping a home up north, and the part-year return for the move year.
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Connecticut residency when moving to Florida explained: the domicile test, the 183-day statutory residency rule with a permanent place of abode, the part-year return, Connecticut's convenience-of-the-employer reciprocity, and selling Connecticut property after the move.
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A business with operations, owners, or filings on both sides of the border keeps books that serve two tax systems with different currencies, different depreciation, different year-ends, and different definitions of income. The books don't need to be kept twice — they need to be kept once with the reconciliations each return requires. Here is the functional currency, the exchange rate rules, the book-to-tax adjustments for each country, the intercompany accounts, and the year-end that both returns read.
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When a Canadian parent lends to its U.S. subsidiary, or a U.S. parent to its Canadian one, the loan has to satisfy both countries: the interest rate must be arm's length, the borrower's deduction may be limited by thin capitalization rules and interest caps, and the interest may carry withholding tax. A loan from the subsidiary back to the parent raises a different problem in each direction. Here is each rule and how the treaty's zero-rate on related-party interest changes the arithmetic.
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When a Canadian parent charges its U.S. subsidiary for management, administration, and shared services — or a U.S. company charges its Canadian affiliate — the fee moves profit across the border, and both countries test it: the payer's country for whether the deduction is real and arm's length, the recipient's for whether it's fully reported. Canada adds a withholding tax on management fees paid to non-residents unless the treaty exempts them. Here is the pricing, the documentation, the withholding, and the substance that holds it together.
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When a U.S. partnership or LLC taxed as a partnership has a Canadian partner and earns income from a U.S. business, the partnership must withhold U.S. tax on the Canadian partner's share of that income — whether or not it distributes anything — and the Canadian partner files a U.S. return to claim the credit. When it sells, a second withholding regime applies. Here is the mechanics, the forms, the treaty's limited help, and the Canadian side, including the hybrid problem when the entity is an LLC.
Read more →October 1, 2026
A business owner who moves between Canada and the United States takes retirement savings built under one country's rules into the other's: a Canadian owner's individual pension plan and RRSP, a U.S. owner's 401(k) and cash balance plan. The treaty recognizes most of them and defers the tax, but contributions after the move, the plan's administration across the border, and the withdrawals each need planning. Here is each plan's treatment in the other country.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Stock options and restricted stock units granted in one country and exercised or vested after the employee moves to the other are taxed by both — each country claiming the share of the benefit earned while the employee worked there. The treaty sources an option benefit by the days employed in each country between grant and exercise, Canada's stock option deduction and the U.S. incentive stock option rules don't line up, and the employer's withholding obligations follow the employee. Here is the mechanics for a Canadian moving to Florida and a U.S. employee moving to Canada.
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Deemed residency in Canada explained: the 183-day sojourning rule that makes someone without residential ties a Canadian resident for the whole year, the other deemed-resident categories (government employees abroad, their families), how it differs from factual residency, and the treaty tie-breaker.
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Does Florida have an estate tax? No — Florida's estate tax ended for deaths after 2004 and there's no inheritance tax. What still applies: the federal estate tax above the exemption, other states' estate taxes on real estate you own there, and your former state if your domicile change isn't complete.
Read more →October 1, 2026
The dual-status return explained: how the year someone becomes or stops being a U.S. resident is split into resident and nonresident periods, the residency starting and ending dates, the limits (no standard deduction, no joint return), and the elections that replace it with a full-year return.
Read more →October 1, 2026
E-2 treaty investor visa taxes explained: Canadian E-2 investors running a U.S. business usually become U.S. tax residents, the entity choice while a nonresident alien (no S corporation), the switch to S corporation status once resident, Form 5472, and the Canadian departure.
Read more →October 1, 2026
The U.S. expatriation tax explained: who is a covered expatriate (the net worth, tax liability, and certification tests), the mark-to-market exit tax on worldwide assets, the exclusion amount, deferred compensation and retirement accounts, Form 8854, and the special rules for dual citizens from birth.
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