House Designing for California while doing work in

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Hi David,
 I met you 6 months ago when you advised me about purchasing a property in
Point Roberts Washington. I'm happy to report that I did get the property
and am now looking forward to building down there.
My question is on another matter: I'm a Canadian citizen living in Canada. I
design houses for a living, although I am not a registered Architect. I have
a couple clients in California for which I will be designing houses. The
design work will be done in Canada, but I will go to California for meetings
with Municipal planners, etc. I will not be carrying any documents with me
as they are sent electronically.
Do I need to let the US authorities know what I am doing? Do I have to do a
U.S. tax return?
Thanks for your help.
======================================
david ingram replies:
If you are in the US meeting with planners to gather information and are then returning to Canada to do the work, you may enter the US as a B1 - Business Visitor.
If you are down there with your laptop and are actually doing work down there you are illegal and subject to arrest, $5,000 US bail (which is usually just forfeited) and being banned from the US for five years under their ER (Expedited Removal) rules.
Goto www.centa.com and read the B1 rules under [Entering the US]
If you are working in California and spending time there  (gathering information is working) you should file US and California Tax returns by law and pro-rate the number of days in California over the total days worked to determine the US source income.  If it is under $10,000 US, there will be no federal tax but there will likely be a California tax.  The California tax would be used as a credit on your Canadian Return.
  
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