Arrived in the US in end of december. Which country to file taxes?

[Viktor C 0]

Hey all!

So, maybe someone on here will be able to help me because I am soooooo lost.

Key points :

- I am Self-Employed, mostly selling custom goods online ( i made more than 15k US dollars in 2019 )
- I was living in Canada ( minus my trips in the US since 2017 as TOURIST ) until I entered the US the 26th December 2019 with my K1 Visa, got married the 27th. ( quicker the better, eh? ).
- All my income was made in Canada ( I did not sell anything since the 26th ).

 

Main question :

- Do I file my Taxes of 2019 for Canada?
- Do I file my Taxes of 2019 for the USA?
- Both?????

- Do I file them alone? Do I file them with my spouse? ( he got the main income job, own the house, etc. )

 

I received my SSN today and am planning sending my Adjustment of Status ( i-485) + Employment authorization later this week.

I read the pinned post, but it's still all blurry to me, I really need someone to enlighten me.

I tried finding tax expert online, but they all need to be paid for tax filing before asking questions, and so far i don't even know for which country i need to file so... I can't.

S.o.S.

Thanks in advance for anyone who will be able to guide me.
( I wanted to call the IRS and/or Canada Tax, but they both are in super long phone wait time, especially that most of the Canadian ones are flickering between open/closed due to extreme weather ( notice on the govt website )).

[Lemonslice 4,575]

Fiscal laws and rules are more complicated than immigration.  You should double check with a qualified professional if you are unsure about the situation 

 

That being said, first year I moved here, I had to file province+Federal in Canada, plus state and federal in the USA. 

[Viktor C 0]

58 minutes ago, Viktor C said:

Hey all!

So, maybe someone on here will be able to help me because I am soooooo lost.

Key points :

- I am Self-Employed, mostly selling custom goods online ( i made more than 15k US dollars in 2019 )
- I was living in Canada ( minus my trips in the US since 2017 as TOURIST ) until I entered the US the 26th December 2019 with my K1 Visa, got married the 27th. ( quicker the better, eh? ).
- All my income was made in Canada ( I did not sell anything since the 26th ).

 

Main question :

- Do I file my Taxes of 2019 for Canada?
- Do I file my Taxes of 2019 for the USA?
- Both?????

- Do I file them alone? Do I file them with my spouse? ( he got the main income job, own the house, etc. )

 

I received my SSN today and am planning sending my Adjustment of Status ( i-485) + Employment authorization later this week.

I read the pinned post, but it's still all blurry to me, I really need someone to enlighten me.

I tried finding tax expert online, but they all need to be paid for tax filing before asking questions, and so far i don't even know for which country i need to file so... I can't.

S.o.S.

Thanks in advance for anyone who will be able to guide me.
( I wanted to call the IRS and/or Canada Tax, but they both are in super long phone wait time, especially that most of the Canadian ones are flickering between open/closed due to extreme weather ( notice on the govt website )).

EDIT :: I made a bit more researches and ended up figuring the following, but i need someone to confirm to me!

1. We can File Marriage Joined Filing ( MJF ) with an Election ( § 6013.G ) to be considered dual-status/NRA.
2. I have ( do I? ) have access to the FEIE ( foreign earned income exclusion ).
3. The income I made in canada ( before entering the US in end of december ) is like 16k US dollar ( so really below the FEIE excluded of tax amount ( $105,900 for 2019 ).

So Given those 3 points, we can file MJF if I declare myself as dual NRA/RA and I can exclude the entirety of my Canadian Income ( since it's waaaaay below 105.900 ).

Questions :

A. Do I still write in our USA joined tax return the amount of canadian income or do i just enter 0 in my section? How does claiming the FEIE work?
A.1. I figured I had to file form 2555, Is there other forms # I need to file? Could someone give me the numbers of each ones?
B. I figure that with that, I would still need to file my Canadian Taxes for all that Canadian Income. 
C. If yes to B, do I write that my status is "married"? Since I married before the 31st december 2019?
D. Do I have to include my now husband on my Canadian taxes too? How does it works?


@Lemonslice ; thanks for the input! And yeah, I want to avoid hiring someone as much possible due to money being low ( just paid the i-485 ). Hopefully i can find all my answers here!

[Lemonslice 4,575]

12 minutes ago, Viktor C said:

@Lemonslice ; thanks for the input! And yeah, I want to avoid hiring someone as much possible due to money being low ( just paid the i-485 ). Hopefully i can find all my answers here!

 

Try the Serbinsky (serbinski?) forum, or the tax aid center in your area. Income is not high, you should be eligible.

[Wuozopo 4,285]

12 hours ago, Viktor C said:

1. We can File Marriage Joined Filing ( MJF ) with an Election ( § 6013.G ) to be considered dual-status/NRA.
2. I have ( do I? ) have access to the FEIE ( foreign earned income exclusion ).
3. The income I made in canada ( before entering the US in end of december ) is like 16k US dollar ( so really below the FEIE excluded of tax amount ( $105,900 for 2019

You can file jointly with your American spouse with an election to be treated as a RA for tax purposes. All year. You do not want to be NRA.

 

You need to read through the tax treaty between the US and Canada. Most treaties say you pay taxes to the place where you live. So if that is correct in the Canadian treaty, you are obligated to pay Canadian taxes up until Dec 25. You pay on all you earned, even if it was paid out to you in US dollars or British pounds or Euros. You lived in Canada when you earned it. 

 

You may file jointly with the spouse if you want to lower the tax her employment generates. You earned no income from Dec 26-31 (no sales) so wouldn’t need to file, but she would have to file Married Filing Separately and that would most likely be a higher tax. If joint, You report everything you earned during the year 2019 from anywhere in the world  because that’s what you do on a joint return. Then because it was all earned in a foreign country, you get to exclude it as Foreign Earned Income exclusion. Be aware, any interest or dividends earned in 2019 are not excluded  because they are not “Earned Income” like from a job.

[NikLR 13,220]

Try this forum https://forums.serbinski.com/

They deal with these kinds of issues.  Also the accountants are expensive but deal with these issues.  

Shoulda gotten married in Jan.