Guides

Straight answers, written by the people who’d file it.

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.

Capital gains RRSP TFSA Departure tax Estate tax FBAR LLC Principal residence

CROSS-BORDER A Canadian Corporation With a U.S. Shareholder

What applies to you
What it costs if you wait
What to do next

Fairlight Accounting · US + Canadian Tax Desks

1,423 guides

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

A US Person Inherits From Canada: No US Tax on the Inheritance — but Form 3520 Reporting, Basis Questions, and What You Now Own

September 14, 2026

An American inheriting from a Canadian parent owes no US income or estate tax on the inheritance itself — but bequests over $100,000 must be reported on Form 3520 with brutal penalties for silence, the inherited assets arrive with basis and account questions, and what was inherited (a house, a RRIF, a trust interest) decides the ongoing file. Here is the receiving end, in order.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Keeping Your US Remote Job While Living in Canada: Whose Payroll, Whose Taxes, and What Your Employer Needs to Know

September 14, 2026

Working a US job remotely from Canada moves the employment to Canada in the eyes of both tax systems: Canada taxes the wages first, Canadian payroll obligations attach to your employer, and the W-2 machine you left running becomes a refund-and-reconcile exercise. Here is how the taxes actually flow, and the employer conversation that makes it work.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Why Every US Bank and Broker Asks Canadians for a W-8BEN — and What Happens to Your Withholding If You Skip It

September 14, 2026

The W-8BEN is the form that tells a US payer two things: you are not American, and the treaty entitles you to reduced withholding. Signed, it drops dividend withholding from 30% to 15% and exempts most interest entirely; missing or expired, the default rates and even backup withholding apply. Here is what the form does, line by line, and its life cycle.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

What Happens If I Spend More Than 183 Days in the US? The Form 8840 Door Closes and the Treaty Door Opens

September 14, 2026

Cross 183 actual days in a calendar year and the snowbird's usual fix — the closer connection exception — is no longer available: you are a US tax resident by formula, and the only route back is the treaty tie-breaker, claimed on a 1040-NR with a disclosure form, with real filing consequences either way. Here is what actually changes at day 184, and the triage if it already happened.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

When Do I Become a Canadian Tax Resident After Moving? The Date, the Ties, and Why It Is Usually Arrival Day

September 14, 2026

Canadian tax residency does not start with a visa or a PR card — it starts when significant residential ties to Canada exist, which for most movers is the day they arrive to live. Here is how the CRA determines the date, what the 183-day deemed rule adds, how the treaty breaks ties for people straddling both countries, and why the exact date is worth real money.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

When Do I Stop Being a Canadian Tax Resident? The Departure Date, the Ties That Hold You, and Why the CRA Looks Back

September 14, 2026

Canadian tax residency ends when significant residential ties end — usually the day you leave with your home, spouse, and dependants moved or moving. But ties left behind (a house kept available, a spouse staying, provincial health cards that linger) can hold residency open, and the departure date you claim drives the departure tax, the final return, and everything after. Here is how the date is actually determined.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Do Bare Trusts Still Have To File a T3? The Rules, the Exemptions, and Where They Stand Now

September 13, 2026

Canada's expanded trust reporting caught millions of bare trust arrangements — a parent on a child's mortgage, a joint account for convenience, a nominee on title. The CRA then exempted bare trusts for 2023 and again for 2024 while the rules were reworked. Here is what a bare trust is, why the filing rule reached it, what the exemptions cover, and what a cross-border family should do while the final rules settle.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Both Countries Auditing the Same Income: What Happens, Who Goes First, and How the Treaty Keeps It From Being Taxed Twice

September 13, 2026

When the CRA and the IRS both examine the same cross-border income, the risk is an adjustment on one side with no matching adjustment on the other. Here is how the two examinations interact, the foreign tax credit redetermination rules that follow, the treaty's mutual agreement procedure, and the sequencing that protects the taxpayer.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Can I Ask the CRA to Cancel Penalties and Interest? Yes, Under Taxpayer Relief, Within Ten Years, for Reasons the CRA Recognizes

September 13, 2026

The CRA's taxpayer relief provisions let it cancel or waive penalties and interest for circumstances beyond the taxpayer's control, CRA errors or delays, financial hardship, and other circumstances. The request is Form RC4288, within ten calendar years of the tax year. Here is what the CRA accepts, what it does not, and how a cross-border taxpayer frames the request.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

A Canadian Trust With a US Beneficiary: Form 3520, UNI, and the Throwback Tax That Punishes Waiting

September 13, 2026

When a Canadian trust distributes to a US-person beneficiary, the US wants a Form 3520 — and if the trust accumulated income in earlier years, the distribution can carry the throwback tax: prior years' rates, an interest charge compounding from those years, and no capital gains treatment. Here is how UNI builds, how the default and actual methods differ, and how trustees keep distributions clean.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

CRA T1135 Penalties: What a Missed Foreign Property Report Costs, and the Three Ways to Fix It

September 13, 2026

Form T1135 reports foreign property costing more than $100,000. The late-filing penalty is $25 a day to $2,500, rising to $500 a month for knowing failures and $1,000 a month after a demand, plus a reassessment period extended by three years. Here is the penalty structure, what triggers each tier, and the Voluntary Disclosures Program, taxpayer relief, and simple late filing as the fixes.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

CRA Voluntary Disclosures for Cross-Border Filers: Coordinating With an IRS Streamlined Submission So Neither Agency Hears It First From the Other

September 13, 2026

A taxpayer catching up in both countries files a CRA Voluntary Disclosure and an IRS streamlined submission as one project. Each program requires that the agency has not already contacted the taxpayer, and the two agencies share information. Here is the CRA program's conditions and relief, the sequencing, and what the two disclosures must agree on.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Owing Penalties in Both Countries: How the CRA's and IRS's Penalties Stack, What Each Program Waives, and the Order to Approach Them

September 13, 2026

Penalties are not creditable across the border: a Canadian late-filing penalty does not reduce a US one, and neither country's disclosure program touches the other's penalties. Here is how the two penalty systems stack on a typical cross-border omission, what the VDP and streamlined each waive, and how to sequence the two so both waivers are available.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

How Cryptocurrency Complicates a Streamlined Filing Catch-Up: Every Disposition, Missing Basis, and the Foreign-Exchange Question

September 13, 2026

Crypto in a streamlined submission means reconstructing every disposition for the covered years as a taxable event, establishing basis from exchange records, deciding whether exchange holdings are reportable on Form 8938 (and, so far, not on the FBAR), and including staking and airdrop income. Here is the mechanics and the judgment calls.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

My Parent Died Owing the CRA or the IRS: Does the Estate Pay, and Can the Debt Reach the Kids?

September 13, 2026

A parent dies with tax owing in one or both countries. The estate pays before the heirs inherit; the children are not personally liable for the shortfall — but the executor can be, and both countries have transferee rules that follow property given away. Here is who owes what, in what order, and the certificates that protect the executor.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Deemed Disposition at Death vs the US Stepped-Up Basis: Two Systems, One Estate, and Where They Collide

September 13, 2026

Canada taxes the gain at death; the US forgives it and taxes the estate's value instead. For a cross-border family the two systems overlap on the same assets: a deemed disposition on the final T1, a possible US estate tax, and a basis answer that differs by country. Here is how each system works, how the treaty credits them against each other, and the basis traps for the heirs.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Estate Freezes, Alter Ego Trusts, and Bypass Trusts: Three Classic Structures and How Each Breaks When the Family Crosses the Border

September 13, 2026

Each country's estate planning toolkit is built for its own tax system — and exports badly. A Canadian estate freeze puts growth shares into a trust that may have US beneficiaries; an alter ego trust avoids probate but reads oddly to the IRS; a US-style bypass trust solves a problem Canada does not have. Here is what each structure does at home and where it fails abroad.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Executor of a Cross-Border Estate: Where Your Personal Liability Comes From and the Certificates That End It

September 13, 2026

An executor who distributes before the tax is settled can be personally liable in both countries — Canada through the clearance certificate rules, the US through the federal claims priority and the fiduciary rules. Here is the liability map for an executor handling an estate with U.S. and Canadian filings, and the sequence of certificates and discharge requests that closes it.

U.S. Expats

FBAR Penalties: The Decision Tree From 'I Missed It' to the Right Procedure and the Right Number

September 13, 2026

Which FBAR penalty applies depends on three questions: was the income reported, was the conduct willful, and has the IRS made contact. Here is the decision tree from those questions to the procedure (delinquent FBAR, streamlined, VDP, or examination) and to the penalty amount (none, per-report non-willful, or willful at 50%).

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Form 3520 Penalty Abatement: The IRS's October 2024 Policy Change and What It Means for a Late Foreign Gift or TFSA Report

September 13, 2026

The IRS used to assess Form 3520 penalties automatically on late filings, up to 25% of a foreign gift or 35% of a foreign trust transaction, and taxpayers fought them afterward. In October 2024 the IRS announced it would review reasonable-cause statements before assessing the gift and bequest penalty. Here is what changed, what did not, and how to file a late Form 3520 now.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Form 5471 and 5472 Penalties: The Abatement Paths After Farhy and Mukhi, and Why the IRS Still Assesses

September 13, 2026

The Tax Court held in Farhy that the IRS cannot assess Form 5471 penalties under section 6038(b) without a court judgment; the D.C. Circuit reversed; the Tax Court reaffirmed in Mukhi for taxpayers outside that circuit. The IRS continues to assess. Here is the state of the law, the paths to abatement (reasonable cause, first-time abatement, the Farhy argument, DIIRSP, streamlined), and what a Canadian corporation's owner should do with a notice.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

Form 706-NA in Detail: When a Canadian Estate Owes the US a Return, What Counts as US-Situs, and How the Treaty Credit Works

September 13, 2026

A Canadian who dies owning more than $60,000 of US-situated assets leaves an estate with a US filing obligation — even if the treaty wipes out the tax. Here is what Form 706-NA covers: the situs rules, the $60,000 threshold, the pro-rated treaty credit, the marital credit, and the transfer certificate that holds the assets hostage until the IRS signs off.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

I Have a Green Card and Live in Canada. Can I Use Streamlined to Catch Up? Yes, and the Submission Should Not Claim the Treaty

September 13, 2026

A green card holder living in Canada who has not filed US returns can use the foreign streamlined track (the residency test is met on days abroad). The returns should be filed as a US resident with the foreign tax credit, not as a treaty non-resident, because a treaty claim on a streamlined return risks the green card and, for a long-term resident, triggers the expatriation rules. Here is the submission and the decision that follows.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

In-Trust-For (ITF) Accounts: The Informal Trust That Causes Formal Problems When the Family Is Cross-Border

September 13, 2026

An ITF account — money invested 'in trust for' a child with no trust deed — is easy to open and hard to characterize. Canada attributes the income to the contributor and may now want a T3; the US may see a foreign trust, kiddie tax, and PFICs if anyone involved is a US person. Here is how ITF accounts are actually taxed on both sides and when to wind one up.

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.