Permanent Resident (PR) living in Canada and working in the U.S


Hi David,

My question to you concerns my husband and filing his American income in Canada. My husband is a permanent resident, we have just recently had a child and need to file taxes to apply for the Child Tax Benefit. My husband lives in Canada but works in the U.S. (he has been a permanent resident for 3 years now). He does not make any income here in Canada. My question is how do we file his taxes? Is this something we can do on our own and if so where would we find the appropriate form for this?

Thanks for you help,

avid ingram replies:

filing a Canadian Tax return and paying the taxes that will be due to get the child tax benefit is NOT cost effective.

However, in the circumstances you describe, he has to file a Canadian tax return.

Although not impossible to do, it is unlikely that you (or 90 percent of the tax preparers out there) would do it properly yourself.

My commercial suggestion is that you pack it up in an envelope and mail it to us unless you are in the Lower mainland of BC, in which case, you can make an appointment and come in.

In the meantime, you should go to www.centa.com and read the US/Canada Taxation section. There are about 27 pages of information about dual status people and the tax paperwork that they need to fill out.

If you do want to try it yourself - this 27 pages plus the T1 General that you pick up at any Canadian post office might get you through the process.

The US dollars need to be converted to Canadian dollars and put on the Canadian return. You will then have to convert the taxes, FICA and Medicare you paid to the US to Canadian $$$ and claim them as a foreign tax credit on the Canadian return.

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