The start of 2015 came with some very exciting news for our neighbours down in the sunshine state. Florida has officially become the 36th State to recognize and allow same sex couples to marry. This new development became official less than one week into 2015 when a federal judge’s stay on a ruling overturning the state’s [...]
There are many Canadians buying real estate in the US and anyone who has made a purchase south of the border can attest to how different the process can be. One of the main differences, which we have discussed in previous publications, is that the US does not require you to have your own legal representative. [...]
The federal U.S. estate tax is an incredibly important topic for some U.S. citizens and a complete non-issue for others. As such, it is useful to understand the rules, if only to determine whether or not it is something you need to be concerned with. The first point for every U.S. citizen to remember is that [...]
In our globalized world, corporate relocation of employees between Canada and the U.S. is becoming more common. Mobilizing talent across borders is often a key strategy for companies hoping to maximize their human resources, but compliance with laws on both sides of the border can be challenging. Luckily, by considering tax and estate planning issues before an employee moves, the risks of relocation can be mitigated. Tax Residency A central issue is tax residency. Canadian income tax is based on residency, while the U.S. generally taxes its citizens on their worldwide income even if they are non-residents. Resident aliens (non-citizens) of the U.S. are also taxed on worldwide income, as if they are U.S. citizens (non-resident aliens are typically only taxed on their U.S.-source income). […]
The Benefits of Owning a U.S. Property in a Trust By Bonnie L. Altro July 24, 2014 Holding property titled in personal names is the most common, simplest and least expensive way to go about owning US real estate. Be forewarned, however, that the issues that can arise in [...]
Matt C. Altro and Jonah Z. Spiegelman were recently interviewed by Dean DiSpalatro from Advisor's Edge to analyze a case study about cross-border traps. The analysis was published in the June edition of the Advisor's Edge magazine and also appeared online on Advisor.ca. In the article, Matt and Jonah review what mistakes "Rob" has made as [...]
David A. Altro is a regular contributor to Paul Delean's business column in the Montreal Gazette, please scroll down to read David's answer to three reader questions. Tax strategy: Expert Tackles Cross-Border Queries PAUL DELEAN The Montreal Gazette Tuesday, April 22, 2014 Cross-border tax issues can be complex. We've had several raised recently by readers that [...]
David A. Altro was asked to write an article for the Good Life Connoisseur magazine, which appeared in the magazine's Spring 2014 Edition on page 32. In the article, David explains the key tax and legal developments for Snowbirds to be aware of for 2014 based on changes that occured in 2013 and scheduled changes for [...]
The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, more commonly known as FATCA, was passed in 2010. FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (“FI”s) to report on the account information of U.S. citizens and residents (including dual citizens) to the IRS starting in July 2014. Although the requirement to report directly to the IRS violated Canadian privacy laws, there were withholding tax consequences for non-compliance with FATCA. The uproar in Canada over the privacy issue and the financial costs of implementing FATCA led to the signing of an intergovernmental agreement [“IGA”] between Canada and the U.S. on February 5, 2014. […]
We have written a number of blogs on the topic of how many days you can spend in the US, but come June 30, 2014 a new initiative will be kicked into high gear in order to track your movement across the Canada/US border. Calculating Your Days in the United States Snowbirds have tried to get around this issue by pleading ignorance or simply believing that the US had no way of actually knowing how many days they were present within their borders, and maybe they were right. Under today’s system, both Canada and the US keep track of the day you enter the country, but not when you leave and neither country is in the habit of sharing this information with each other. However, none of this actually means that snowbirds are exempt from the rules. In fact, the implications of surpassing the number of days allowed in the US comes with dyer tax, estate, immigration and medical coverage issues. These issues have all been discussed in great detail in the past, however it is worth taking a brief moment to recap the rules. […]
