What to file and where - Expert Income Tax help on cross Border tax and immigration and divorce and RRSP and IRA & other mat

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x xxxxx on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 10:59:39
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My_question_is: Both

question: Hi,
I am a Canadian Permanent Resident who moved to the US at the end of December 2008.
I did not declare myself non-resident in Canada at the time of the move because at that time I was not sure if I would move back to Canada and didn't want to jeopardize my Canadian PR status.  Aside from a W2 with a couple of thousand dollars and a couple of interest payments I had no other Canadian derived income in 2009.  I spent less than 20 days in Canada during 2009.
In April 2010 I received my US permanent residence card and I have concluded that I will not be moving back to Canada.
I have filed a 1040 for 2009 in the US which discloses all income, including that paid to me from Canadian sources.  I have also filed FBARs for all non US accounts.
The question is, what do I file in Canada for 2009 and how do I go about adjusting my status to Non-Resident?
One possible complication - in September 2009 we sold our Condo in Canada and converted those funds into US dollars to facilitate the purchase of our new primary residence in the USA.  Not sure if this has a bearing on anything.  Since at that time we were not sure if we would be moving back to Canada, there was no withholding placed on the proceeds of the sale of the condo, our principal residence , at that time.
Thanks in advance for your response.


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david ingram replies:

When you sold the condo and declared yourself a resident for tax purposes, you at least made yourself a resident up to that date,.

It sounds like you had a home available to you until that date and also sounds like you are married to an American to have obtained your US PR (green) card in such a short time.

File your 2009 tax return reporting all US and Canadian income up to after the sale of the apartment.  Show yourself with a departing date of Sept 15 or Oct `1, etc. You will have to prorate your exemptions for the number of days, etc.  If it turns out that there was tax payable to Canada you will have to amend your US 1040 to claim the FTC on form 1116.

I hope you also reported the sale of the residence on your US return.  You mention a W2 as if it was a Canadian T4 so I am assuming the couple of thousand was earned in Canada during your few days here.

If it was US money, there might also be a foreign tax credit for the FICA, Medicare and any tax you paid to the US claimable on your Canadian return on forms T2209 and T2036.

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