MsZ

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good tax attorney to deal with cross-border issues?

Major snafu on the part of my husband's company in moving his stock option account into the US. They used his Canadian SIN rather than his US and a recent sale of options has caused an avalanche on our account.

Here's what happened : He exercised stock options for a net of not a whole lot, but what it did was alert the IRS to the fact that his SIN on the account didn't match his US Social Security number. No problem. He fills out a B-Notice and all is supposed to be well. Unfortunately, it was rejected because the wrong part of the firm holding his options was trying to make the change and were not allowed. The government slapped him with a 28% capital gains tax. OK. We could probably make that up at regular tax time. HOWEVER. Here's the kicker. They didn't tax the proceeds. They taxed the value of the stock instead of his net.

So now his account has a negative cash value... What does the fun firm that controls this thing do? Just what any brokerage would do, sells more stock to cover the difference. ONLY this will result in another 28% penalty. Until that SSN thing gets fixed, we are in a death spiral. Sell. Ding. Red. Sell. Ding. Red. Oh joy!

Lots of things went wrong -- his company screwed up, the options company didn't send him to the right department, we only had 3 days to get it fixed and they didn't let him know it hadn't been taken care of and he wouldn't have known about that unless he noticed that there had been another trade exercised on his account!!!

I shouldn't be surprised about his company screwing up, either. They continued to contribute to his RRSP for several months after he had moved here. That was a LOT of fun fixing.

Let this be a lesson to anyone moving to the US who has any assets -- get a tax attorney. Don't trust anyone to do the right thing no matter how much you tell them what it is. Follow up every step of the way. Get anything that is told to you in writing. Trust no one. Americans just don't appreciate how complicated and punishing the IRS can be to immigrants.

Sorry for the rant. But thank you for listening.

Donna

I would take the "didn't receive anything but the 751" to mean they don't think you included enough evidence, things like co-mingling of funds, credit card statements across the entire period, etc.

Mike's Green Card was received on the 19th. :-)

Good luck to the 4 CSCers and the other half of the VSC list. There are only a few days left in the month... I'm sure you will hear from them soon. Keep the faith!

It is too funny, you don't hear anything from USCIS the entire time they are processing, save for the biometrics appointment, and once they approve ROC, they send an email every step of the way. They are almost to the point where I'm going to report them as spammers.

Just kidding. Honest USCIS, just kidding. Please don't deport my husband! I promise I'll be good from now on and never say another unkind word toward VSC or USCIS.

Shoot. Had a whole reply and lost it.

My H moved into my house with everything in my name, too. So I explained it in the cover letter -- they've seen this situation probably more than just a couple of times. ANYTHING you have joint during that period is good. The more the merrier. My H bought things for the house that were either mailed to us or were put on quotes and invoices. Stuff like parts for the toilet and a sink. Doesn't matter what. A person not living with you is not going to get a quote for a deck on the house and pay for it out of pocket himself. Same for getting the back deck redone.

We had only 1 common bill at that time. We included several, but not all months -- just showing that it continued over time. His paycheck with our address. NY license. My insurance with his name on it. My 401K showing he is my beneficiary (which is kind of stupid because there or not, he is.)

Didn't even include taxes.

My MIL kept a list of every time my H crossed the border. Don't know exactly why. But it showed that he spent his time mainly in the US. Has sons in Canada so regular trips back home. Explained those things in the letter.

Two affidavits -- one from my ex-husband who met my now H when we were dating when he came to pick up the kids. So he is aware how long we've been together. Probably pulled some weight.

We finally moved into a home we bought together. So the last 7 months we had a lot of joint things. We also bought a timeshare. I figured that anyone stupid enough to buy a timeshare together is probably married. I may have even said that in the letter. I figure humor never hurts.

Try not to worry about the house. If you think hard, you'll find plenty of other things to use. And, I found the same thing as the other poster -- would have had to refinance to get his name on the house. Not worth it. If I croaked, he would own an underwater house. Lucky him.

Good luck.

Seems like you are still married.

Since you are reconciling, I would think that you WOULD have to change your filing. You are married and want to continue to be married to him. Maybe you should request an Infopass and get advice from them. It makes total sense that you would want to be honest with them. I think they will appreciate the honesty.

Here's what I would do if I were to not seek advice from USCIS :

I would gather all of the evidence that you need to support an application based on a good faith marriage..

I would include a copy of the affidavit and get anything you can from the police to support that you actually filed but that you have now chosen to remain married.

I would also get any information to support the fact that your husband has cleaned up his act -- affidavit from someone in his AA group or his rehab or however he managed to do it.

I would fill out a new application.

I would send the above with the letter you have written explaining the circumstances.

And I would hope that they would simply replace the old application with the new.

Received an email a couple of minutes ago saying we're approved! It is funny because I had checked the website about 5 minutes before the email arrived and nothing. Looking after the email it was updated to 8/12 and the approved status.

We're on a roll now! Everyone from FEB should be done very soon. This is so cool.

I'd wait for the first NOA, then you can also include a copy of the NOA. Since you're at the beginning of a long wait, I really don't think it hurts to send it now. If you get an RFE later, you get one later. But if you don't, you've saved yourself some time and worry.

Sent a letter with the case # on everything as well as the envelope and that we are applying for removal of conditions.

Oh, and we sent with delivery confirmation.

We originally forgot and sent it in later. And after that, we sent even more evidence. We received one letter stating they had received the additional information. So I don't know if they combined the two or ??? USCIS isn't known for consistency, dontchyaknow.

waiting. A lot of waiting. ;-)

Serious, serious WOOT!!!!! This is good news for all of us. Congratulations!

Use the number on your NOA to register.

They would only give my husband a 1 year license in NJ because his 2 year conditional residency would have been up before the normal expiration. He had to renew and show them the NOA1 extension, and they only gave him another year. When he gets his GC they will give him a new license with the proper expiration date.

I don't believe he would have been able to do this online. He had to go to DMV. It is always crowded at the beginning and end of the month. A weekday morning is generally better.

Your wife is a lunatic, Mehmet. Messing with the US mail is a federal offense.

Go to the local post office and file a change of address form. Your mail for the most part, will never get to your old address. I would also change your phone number. She knows your address. She can contact you that way if she or her lawyer want to contact you. If you have someone else you trust, you could ask them to be the intermediary between you so that if she has anything urgent to contact you about, she would contact that person. If you have a lawyer, use them.

Glad you got your card.

This is wonderful news, Mehmet. Congratulations!!!!!

yeahhhh i finally received the approval email today, Currently i hired a lawyer working on my divorce case.

Application Type: CRI89 , PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED

Your Case Status: Card/ Document Production

On July 11, 2011, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

What are the chances that July is our lucky month with VSC?

[ ] Slim

[ ] None

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The tax implications of trying to live in both the US and Canada aren't trivial. I really hated when we had to do both sets of taxes.

But thanks for the info on estate taxes. I'd forgotten that from the book we got on financial planning for Canadians who move to the US.

Is everyone leaving their RRSP up North?

Kathyrn, love that middle cat. How's his personality? I had a slightly lighter grey one like that and he was my soul-mate cat.

In some cases, there may be tax implications of keeping or not keeping your original citizenship. But for Canadians, "once a Canadian, always a Canadian." I really have no idea what my husband plans to do or what the benefit of becoming a US citizen actually is apart from voting and the ability to hold office. I don't think he cares that much about voting and he probably doesn't aspire to hold office.

You did your biometrics kind of late. That might explain the delay Eli.

transcript

Woo hoo! 4 January approvals out of Vermont! We're only a month or two away from adjudication!

My H hasn't even been asked for the letter.

Congrats!!! I moved from California to New Jersey.. so they had to transfer my case. I believe my case was Aproved faster because my husband was going on deployment and we sent a deployment letter. We are NAVY

For the rest of you guys... Good Luck! and I hope you get Great news soon!

So do you count as California or VT? I'd like to claim you as VT because despite my 0% campaign, I am beginning to wish for a little more. You know us Americans, always wanting more and wanting it yesterday.

We sent additional information in twice already! We actually received a letter of acknowledgment but we're not sure for which.