US Back Taxes Check List

Checklist for Filing Back Taxes to the US

 

Please provide the following:

 

1. Canadian tax returns for the corresponding years.
2. Social Security Number
3. Date of birth
4. Date of entry to Canada
5. Visa status for above –landed immigrant?
6. Same information for spouse if American
7. Profession/Occupation & place of employment
8. Name, SSN and DOB for all dependants if American
9. Mortgage interest only if deduction is requested
10. Property Taxes only if deduction is requested
11. Dental, Medical, Donations if requested
12. phone numbers
13. email address
14. Current mailing address including postal code

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bank Account Reporting (F-Bar Reporting)

 

You MUST report all foreign bank accounts (including Canadian) to the US Treasury if you have a total of over $10,000 in the combined accounts (aggregate value).

So---- what we need for this is a list of: Six year history of all bank accounts and/or any account that you have signing authority over.

Please use the Banking spreadsheet or supply:

1. name of bank
2. address of bank with postal code
3. bank account number
4. type of account
5. year end balance and maximum value of account at any given time during each calendar year
6. So that means one amount per account per year on as few pages as possible -

• Please do not send pages of supporting documents
• we include the first six bank accounts in our quoted price. There is a surcharge for extra bank accounts as these take longer than the actual return does.
• Note that banking, more than any other factor, holds up our completion of your returns - so the more complete and concise your banking information is when it comes to us, the better - and the faster we can get your returns done and filed.

For RRSP’s we need six years history of same as above as well as the year end balance.

Failure to report faces a minimum penalty of $10,000 and 5% to 25% of the balance if they decide to enforce it.

 

 

Please note that the Canadian Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is usually not a good investment vehicle for a dual citizen. The TFSA is considered a trust in the US and is NOT TAX FREE.

 

Note on Capital Gains: capital gains are taxed at 50% in Canada but 100% in the U.S.

Please consider this when investing.

Also, in Canada there is a Canadian Dividend Tax Credit which is not available in the U.S. If you have Dividend income it will be to your financial advantage to supply us with the "actual" dividend amount as opposed to the "taxable" dividend amount that appears on your Canadian tax return.

 

For more information please see

IRS F-Bar reporting at the following links:

http://www.fincen.gov/forms/bsa_forms/