MarkYYC

Hi,

My parents are over 70, live in Canada, and want to visit us in the USA.

The problem is that my mom is on a list to get her knees replaced. They already have travel insurance, but the health care there has told them that if they visit the US, any falls or incidents caused by her knees won't be covered.

Now they are too afraid to visit and risk there life savings. Anyone know of any companies that are willing to give more coverage? Or any other ideas? Of course we can visit them in Canada, but I don't have any more vacation days this year.

Thanks,

Mark

Hi

I have applied to remove the conditions on my PR card, and we recently moved. I did submit an AR11 for myself, but I haven't gotten any confirmation. Is that all I have to do? I think I read that my wife (the US citizen) has to do something as well.

Thanks,

Mark

I've been trying to read up on how to do this, as my passport expires in early 2016. I am living in the US on a 2 year green card, after doing a K1 visa. What's the best way to renew my passport? My brother in law is a lawyer (not a canadian citizen though), and I could drive up to Ontario if necessary.

Thanks,

Mark

There are schedules to do when you file your Canadian exit return (the return that you stop becoming a Canadian resident.) I suggest looking it up on the CRA website. You have to file a paper return. Because you paid Canadian taxes you have to file in CAnada. Because you live in the USA you have to file in the USA. You can exclude the income from your US return using form 2555.

This is totally wrong information. You can only use form 2555 to file your exit return, for foreign earned income. Employment insurance payments do not count as foreign earned income, it is strictly income.

For people reading this, please post your questions on the Serbinski Tax Forum, as they are actual accountants.

Thanks,

Mark

Here's a question for you: My wife and I are both living in the USA, but are both Canadian, and she is an American citizen, and I am a permanent resident. This results in some very complicated tax situations.

I was just about to submit our taxed (filing jointly), when I thought what if I file separately? It dropped our taxes owed from $2000 to basically 0!

My question is are there any major implications to doing this? Can we switch back to filing jointly next year?

Hi NLR

Can you explain more about the 75%? I have not seen this before. Also what I don't really understand

Would it be better for me to not file in Canada and try to get those taxes back? Also I assume that since it was already taxed in Canada, I would leave them off of my US return? Or would I enter it, and then enter the taxes that were withheld as well?

Thanks!

Hi everyone

I am trying to do a section 217 tax return for my Canadian taxes, and I am questioning if I am doing it right. There is so much information out there, but no good guides!

I moved to the USA in October 2013 from Canada on a K1 visa, and was unemployed until September 2014. During that time I received Employment Insurance from Canada (about $14000 CDN), after which I earned about $11,000 US income (from my job).

My understanding of the section 217 return is that I should declare the CDN EI income on my US tax return, and then on my Canadian tax return file for section 217, which will allow me to get all of the taxes that were withheld on the EI income back, since I wasn't a resident of Canada.

Is this right? Can someone help me out? And yes, I did do my exit return from Canada for 2013.

Thanks!

Mark

Hi

I am living in the US now, and life is great! Visa journey helped SOO much to get me here!

I claimed EI after I moved, and now I am at the end of my claim.

I am wondering if, when I do my taxes next year, is there any way to get the 25% tax that the Canadian government withheld back?

Mark

BTW the iPhone 4s is an international phone, meaning that you can use a SIM card from another country when you travel!

My wife and I have been using Ting for about 4 months now, and we LOVE it! We bought 2 used iPhone 4s's on ebay, got them set up, and our bill is only $39 per month (for both of us!)

Ting actually roams on Verizon's voice network, so you are never without voice! It's great! No data roaming though yet.

If you want to save $25 when signing up, feel free to use this link: https://ting.com/r/irlssj0259

Mark

Hi everyone

I am working on our taxes (last minute, I know! argh!), and things are going ok, but VERY confusing! I have a few questions:

As a little background, we did a K1 visa, and I entered the USA with it on October 1, 2013. We got married on November 2, 2013. I applied for my EAD late January, and then a surprise - I785 (Permanent Residency) was approved on February 26th, 2014!!!

Now for my tax questions:

#1 - I have been told we should be filing in the US as Married Filing Jointly. Is this correct?

#2 - I have also been told that I need to report my Canadian income. I am using TaxAct, and so far it is working well. To report my Canadian income, can I use 1040/1040NR FEC?

#3 - I have been told to use Form 2555 to exclude my Canadian income from US tax. Is this true?

#4 - I was partially self employed in Canada, where do I report this income?

#5 - For Canadian taxes, my wife is also a Canadian citizen. Should I file as married or single when I file in Canada?

Any other tips? They would be greatly appreciated, I am pretty close to losing it!

Thanks,

Mark

Oh shoot. Maybe this year is different.

Anyone? Could be a really valuable resource, in addition to what is here!

Oh really? I called the CRA, and they told me that was what I needed to do. Which ones did you try that didn't work?

Hey guys, thanks for filling my thread up with posts - I got really excited to see that it had gone "viral", only to see that it was you to crazy's who had filled it up:)

Anyways, has anyone seen or found a solid, comprehensive guide doing these types of tax returns? I am looking for info on forms, what to report, etc, hopefully in an easy to read format? Tax stuff kind of blows my mind.

Thanks!

Mark

Hi everyone

I just found this guy's youtube channel. Apparently he is an immigration lawyer, providing free immigration advice via youtube videos!

Check out his channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/usimmigrationlawyer/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid

I don't have time to listen to many, anyone care to check his facts, forms, etc, and make sure he is actually giving good advice?

Mark

Thanks for the advice guys! I am still confused on one thing though - would I file my 2013 Canadian taxes as married? Or single?

Hi everyone!

I am in need of some tax help, I think our situation is a little well...complicated.

My wife and I are both Canadian citizens, but she is also American. I have been reading that in order to file for my taxes ( I moved 09/2013, but didn't work in the US in 2013) I need to do it in paper, but I have also read that I can do it online. Which is true? Any advice on the easiest way to do this?

I also had a business in Canada, and I need to pay some GST owing from 2013 (due by April 30th I believe). I am pretty sure I can do this via my bank account (still open in Canada), does anyone know for sure? If not I can find out.

But the really tricky part is that my wife and I are both Canadian citizens, and I just realized that this might make filling tricky. Do I need to file as married in Canada? I assume that I do, but do I need to include my wife then? She has never worked/filed in Canada before (she moved when she was 18, just before college). Could we file married but separately?

If we do have to file together, will her 2013 US income be taxed?

Thanks!

Mark

What do you mean put the SIN number as all zero's? Could you explain this?

Thanks!

Mark

You can redress it? What does that mean?

Hey guys, I had no idea that we canucks could do this! I moved at the end of September, and we got married November 2nd. Am I too late to apply? I worked until the week before I moved (in Canada).

Mark

The others I haven't heard of, but I like Republik Wireless's idea. The reason I didn't go with them though is because if you are on a WIFI signal, and you move out of range of the WIFI, the call is dropped. So once you take a call, you basically can't move:(

I will let you know how Ting turns out!

Mark

Hey guys

I moved here to the USA in early October of 2013, and I have been searching and searching for cell phone plans that we can actually afford with 2 people. The big companies only offer plans with high limits (unlimited, 1500 minutes, blah blah blah…WAY more than we need - and then they make you pay for it 2 times!)

A friend referred me to Ting Mobile, a new company that operates based on paying for what you actually use! They don't have plans or contracts, instead you pay in bucket form (i.e. 101-500 minutes, 101-1000 texts (global), or any amount of data you may need.

You can purchase phones from them, or you can bring your own! What my fiancé and I did is purchase used iPhones from ebay (be SURE they have CLEAN ESN's and are Sprint phones), and then you can use them! A lot of other phones work as well, you can check the whitelist at the link below to see which phones work.

The reason we decided to spend the extra money on iPhones instead of getting cheap flip phones is because with iMessage, texting between two iPhones (with iOS 6 or above) uses data/wifi, so it costs very very little. You can also use apps to call each other, or there is a new feature called FaceTime Audio, which should give us "free" (data/wifi) calling between each other! Keep in mind that calling Ting to Ting uses both members minutes/texts if you don't have iPhones.

We are hoping for really low bills, as K1 visas are expensive!

If you want more info, feel free to ask me anything, or see the link below (use this one and you'll get a discount:))

https://ting.com/r/irlssj0259

Mark

Phew:) Thanks guys, we are so close! Good luck to everyone else, I hope this doesn't last long!

I am crossing the border tomorrow morning, will the border guards/customs guys shut down? Can someone tell me ASAP? If there is even a CHANCE they will not be able to let me in, I am in Winnipeg tonight, and we can leave right now and cross ASAP!

Mark