1,407 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 4, 2026
Estate and gift tax planning for business owners after the 2025 law: the $15 million exemption and portability, the annual exclusion, lifetime gifts versus stepped-up basis, valuation discounts, Form 709, Section 6166 deferral, and state estate taxes.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Canadian private corporations often invest their retained earnings in U.S. stocks — and the U.S. dividends arrive with withholding, the corporation's W-8BEN-E decides whether it's 15 percent or 30 percent, and the treaty's limitation-on-benefits test decides whether the corporation can claim the treaty at all. On the Canadian side, the U.S. dividends are foreign investment income taxed at the high refundable rate, with the foreign tax credit rules for a corporation. Here is each layer, and the U.S. estate tax question the corporation helps answer.
Read more →October 1, 2026
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
Illinois residency when moving to Florida explained: Illinois's domicile and temporary-or-transitory-purpose test (no 183-day statutory rule), the part-year return and income allocation, Illinois-source income after the move, Illinois's exemption of retirement income, and its estate tax.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Maryland residency when moving to Florida explained: domicile and the 183-day statutory rule with a six-month abode, Maryland's county income taxes, the part-year return, and Maryland's estate tax and inheritance tax — the only state with both.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Massachusetts residency when moving to Florida explained: the domicile test, the 183-day statutory resident rule with a permanent place of abode, the 4 percent surtax on income over US$1,107,750 (2026), the part-year return, and the Massachusetts estate tax that follows domicile.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Michigan residency when moving to Florida explained: domicile and the 183-day rule, Michigan's city income taxes (Detroit and others), the part-year return, Michigan's principal residence exemption that must be rescinded, and no estate tax.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Minnesota residency when moving to Florida explained: domicile and the 183-day rule with a place of abode, Minnesota's aggressive residency audits of snowbirds, the 25 domicile factors, the part-year return, and Minnesota's estate tax.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Ohio residency when moving to Florida explained: the bright-line test — no more than 212 contact periods in Ohio, an abode elsewhere, no Ohio driver's license or homestead reduction, and a timely Ohio Nonresident Statement — Ohio's municipal income taxes, the part-year return, and why Ohio has no estate tax.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Oregon residency when moving to Florida explained: domicile and the 200-day statutory rule with a permanent place of abode, the part-year return, Oregon's high rates and no sales tax, and Oregon's estate tax with its US$1 million exemption.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Keeping rental property in your former state after moving to Florida explained: the rental income stays taxable there as nonresident source income, the nonresident return, suspended passive losses and how they're released on sale, depreciation, and the estate tax exposure of real estate in some states.
Read more →October 1, 2026
U.S. estate tax for Canadians explained: which U.S. property is taxed at death (real estate, U.S. stocks), the US$60,000 filing threshold, the treaty's prorated unified credit and marital credit, Form 706-NA, and the Canadian deemed disposition alongside.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Virginia residency when moving to Florida explained: domicile and the 183-day actual resident rule, the part-year return, Virginia-source income after the move, and why Virginia has no estate tax.
Read more →September 18, 2026
When a covered expatriate — a former US citizen or long-term resident who met the exit-tax tests — later gives or leaves money to a US person, the recipient owes a tax at the highest estate tax rate on what they received. The rule waited fifteen years for regulations and a form; both now exist, and Form 708 is due for gifts and bequests received from 2025 on. Here is who is caught, what is taxed, the exceptions, and why a Canadian family with a renounced member should read the expatriate's Form 8854.
Read more →September 15, 2026
The Canadian holdco owning the Florida house was once standard estate-tax planning; today it manufactures shareholder benefits on every personal-use week, corporate FIRPTA and branch tax on exit, stacked filings in both countries, and worse rates on rental income — while the treaty credits solved the original problem for most estates. Here is why the structure persists, what it actually costs, and how existing ones unwind.
Read more →September 14, 2026
Canada has no inheritance tax, so a Canadian receiving from an American estate owes nothing on receipt and takes assets at fair-market-value cost. The US estate paid whatever estate tax applied before distribution, US accounts release through transfer certificates, and what the heir keeps — US property, US accounts, an IRA — decides the ongoing Canadian file. Here is the receiving end, southbound.
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
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.
Read more →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.
Read more →September 13, 2026
Joint tenancy avoids probate, which is why families use it — and why it quietly creates gift tax, estate tax inclusion, deemed dispositions, and ownership disputes when the owners span the border. Here is what JTWROS actually does in each tax system, the contribution rule that surprises everyone, and when joint title costs more than the probate it saves.
Read more →September 13, 2026
The unlimited marital deduction — the rule that lets everything pass to a spouse estate-tax-free — is denied when the surviving spouse is not a US citizen, unless the property passes to a qualified domestic trust. Here is what a QDOT requires, the tax it defers rather than forgives, the hardship exception, and why Canadian couples often use the treaty's marital credit instead.
Read more →September 7, 2026
The four ways a Canadian can hold Florida property, scored on income tax, estate tax, probate, liability, personal use, and compliance cost. Personal ownership in a revocable trust wins for most; the LLC loses for a Canadian resident; the Canadian company and the irrevocable trust are for specific estate tax problems.
Read more →September 7, 2026
The holding structure for a Canadian's US vacation rental decides the income tax, the estate tax, the probate, and the cost of getting out. Here are the four options compared on each dimension, and why personal ownership (or a revocable trust) wins for most Canadians and an LLC almost never does.
Read more →September 7, 2026
Canada has no inheritance tax but deems assets sold at death. The US has an estate tax but no deemed disposition. When the deceased or the heir sits in the other country, both systems collide. Here is how each case works.
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.
