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
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.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The border officer, the IRS, and your provincial health plan each run a different clock with different math — per-visit immigration limits, a three-year weighted tax formula, and a residency day count for coverage. Satisfying one says nothing about the others. Here is each rule, how they conflict, and the one calendar that serves all three.
Read more →September 14, 2026
An ITIN is the IRS's identification number for people who need to file or be reported but can't get a Social Security number — which describes a Canadian selling US property, filing a 1040-NR, or claiming a treaty refund. Plenty of Canadians are told to get one who don't need it. Here is the needed/not-needed sort, and the application without the horror stories.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A taxable US brokerage account is tax-fine to keep after moving to Canada — the issues are practical (many US brokers restrict Canadian-resident clients), administrative (T1135, adjusted cost base in Canadian dollars), and strategic (what to hold where). Here is what changes about the account the day you become a Canadian resident.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A US citizen married to a Canadian can elect to treat the nonresident spouse as a US resident and file jointly — better brackets and credits, at the price of the Canadian spouse's worldwide income, FBAR, and PFIC exposure entering the US system, indefinitely, until the election is ended and cannot be made again. Here is the full trade, priced.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Marriage to an American does not make a Canadian a US taxpayer — but it hands the couple a menu of elections, drags the American spouse's US filings into family finances, and puts gift and estate rules between spouses that same-country couples never meet. Here is what changes automatically, what changes by choice, and the household design that keeps two systems livable.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The move year is two tax lives stitched at the departure date: Canada takes world income before and Canadian-source income after; the US takes what its residency start captures, shaped by the dual-status-or-election choice. Getting each income item into the right country's column — salary, bonus, RRSP, dividends, gains — is the whole art of the transition year. Here is the map.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The LLC is the default US small-business wrapper — and one of the worst entities to bring to Canada. Canada sees a corporation where the US sees a flow-through, so the same profit is taxed personally in the US now and as a corporate distribution in Canada later, with credits that refuse to line up. Here is the mismatch, the treaty patch, and the restructuring options.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Canadian pension splitting lets couples shift up to half of eligible pension income to the lower-income spouse with one form — but when the receiving spouse is a US citizen, the shifted income lands on their 1040 too, and when the transferring spouse is the American, the US keeps taxing what Canada moved away. Here is how the mismatch works and when splitting still pays.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian's US-situs assets — the Florida house, the US stocks — sit inside the US estate tax at death, and the treaty's pro-rated credit protects most but not all estates. For those with real exposure, the levers are structural: debt, ownership design, holding vehicles, insurance, and asset location. Here is which levers work, which are folklore, and how to size the problem first.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Any payment to a non-resident for services physically performed in Canada carries 15% withholding — from the US consultant's site visit to the touring speaker's fee — remitted by the Canadian payer, on account rather than final. Treaty-protected non-residents can recover it by filing, or prevent it with a waiver. Here is the regime from both sides of the invoice.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Keep the Canadian house as a rental after moving south and you enter Canada's non-resident landlord system: 25% withholding on gross rent by default, an NR6 election to withhold on net instead, a section 216 return to settle the real tax, and a US return that wants the same income with its own depreciation rules. Here is the machinery, end to end.
Read more →September 14, 2026
A Canadian who rents out a Florida condo faces the nonresident default — 30% of gross rent withheld by the tenant or manager — unless they elect to be taxed on net rental income, file a 1040-NR, and hand the property manager a W-8ECI. Here is both regimes, the election mechanics, and the depreciation rules that surprise Canadian landlords.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The RESP loses both engines at the border: no new grants without a resident beneficiary, and no US recognition of the deferral — the IRS taxes the plan's growth annually with trust-reporting questions attached. Withdrawals still work for US universities, but the grant clawback rules bite if the beneficiary is non-resident. Here is what keeps working, what breaks, and how families land it.
Read more →September 14, 2026
The RRSP survives a move to the US better than any other Canadian account: no departure tax, continued deferral in both countries, and a choice worth real money — leave it growing, convert to a RRIF for 15% treaty withholding on periodic payments, or collapse it at 25%. Here is how each path is taxed and how the US measures its share.
Read more →The content on this page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional tax, accounting, or legal advice. See our full legal disclaimer.
