There is no doubt that US citizens living abroad are feeling the brunt of recent efforts to enforce tax rules around foreign assets and income. Unlike any other developed nation, the US continues to impose income tax filing requirements on its citizens, regardless of where in the world they make their homes. For most [...]
Jonah Z. Spiegelman, lead of our western Canada practice and based in Vancouver, BC, was recently interviewed for an article in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. In the article, Jonah reviews some of the real estate trends that Canadians are following when purchasing in the US and what Snowbirds need to be aware of and plan for [...]
As cross border tax advisors, we routinely meet with American citizens who have lived in Canada for many years without understanding their tax obligations in the US. A similarly complex situation may arise for Canadian citizens who have moved to the US for work or retirement. Even those who are compliant with the income tax filings [...]
Canadian businesses looking to expand operations into the US have many issues to work through at the planning stage, and one important one is how to structure US operations from a tax perspective. This post discusses some of the considerations to keep in mind when deciding between forming a US subsidiary or operating directly in the [...]
In my last update, I wrote about the American Taxpayer Relief Act, the eleventh-hour Fiscal Cliff compromise legislation, which narrowly avoided the return of U.S. estate tax for owners of US properties dying with a global estate worth more than $1 million. It was great news, especially for Canadian Snowbirds and real estate investors looking to [...]
Just hours before midnight on New Years Eve, the US Senate hammered out a tentative deal to avoid sending the country over the Fiscal Cliff. Yesterday, a reluctant, Republican-controlled House of Representatives has also blessed the plan, which deals with many of the major tax issues at stake, while pushing back the spending issues to later [...]
US citizens who live in Canada are liable for US gift and estate tax on their worldwide assets, even if they have never actually lived in the US. This means that assets transferred during life or on death are taxed by the IRS at rates of up to 35%, subject to certain annual and lifetime exclusions. [...]
