EED

Does anyone know what is the official exchange rate to use for 2009?

If you're in Southern California, the CanDiego events are always fun. www.candiego.org

Annual Canada Day Event

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Dust off your maple leaf, unfurl your red and white flags, grab your toque and get off the chesterfield to join CanDiego for the most awesome party of the year! Celebrate Canada's 142nd birthday a few days early in San Diego! CanDiego is having its annual Canada Day party on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at the Coronado Cays Yacht Club (www.ccyc.org ) starting at 5:30 pm. This is CanDiego's premier event of the year. The CCYC is an amazing venue. We can hang out in the spacious main dining room, the bar, or the patio. There's even a small grassy area for kids to play games and a swing set. All this with a beautiful view of the harbour. If you wish, you can even sail right up to the facility instead of driving there.& nbsp;Celebrate Canada Day in the best CanDiego tradition with Canadian beer ($4 each) and great food like maple glazed turkey burgers, Canadian blue beef burgers, and of course, veggie burgers. The burgers come with fries at a great price of $10.95 each. We'll have networking games, a raffle with great prizes, and of course, the singing of O Canada by an esteemed choir.

Meet lots of Canadians and friends of Canada. Bring the kids, too! This is one party you won't want to miss, eh!

When: Saturday, June 27, 2009, starting at 5:30 pm

Where: Coronado Cays Yacht Club, 30 Caribe Cay Boulevard, Coronado, CA

Parking Options: free parking in the yacht club's parking lot or on the surrounding side streets

Admission: $10 per adult (cash only). Children under 18 years of age admitted free. Admission cost includes a raffle ticket.

Raffle prizes:

Gift cards from Daphne's Greek Café

La Jolla Brew House Beer tasting for 4 (appetizers, beer, growler, T-shirt)

Canadian Goodies from Rob and Elena of www.gocanuck.com

and many more, including:

The 8891 is so you don't have to report interest accrued every year on your Form 1040. Interest on RRSPs is taxable in the US unless you elect it not to be.

Also, the value of the RRSP is the value in US$ on the date you officialy became a resident of the US - this is a very important number for line 16a later on. Figure it out now because if you are not cashing in for 30 more years that will be a hassle.

And don't forget Form 90-22. You can get a major fine if you don't report accounts over $10,000.

Just an FYI, I forgot to send in my 8891 with my US tax return. I called and they said to wait until it was processed and then attached it to a 1040x, but make a note at the top of the 1040x what you are doing because if there is no info to change they might not understand .

This is the interesting part for us....we consulted with accountants here and in Canada, I am finding that there is no consensus, some say the value at year-end and some say the value when you officially activated your visa. We finally decided to use the year end value because we had statements to back up the numbers.

We were also told that some states (i.e. Cali) will tax you on the annual gain reported on your 8891....I am not even looking into this until next year.

- It says that credit was established in 1999 - before he got his SSN (I mean it says 'before you were issued a SSN')

Did you transfer your Canadian AMEX to a US AMEX?

We also have this notation, it was linked to the date when we opened our AMEX in Canada.

Here's the visa bulletin for March, current priority date for F4 category is March 98.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin...letin_4428.html

Nope I can't stay here longer, and I only have 3 weeks vacation and we only earn 2.5 days a month, so it will take a whle to earn more time if I use it all.

I am thinking we are just going to risk driving, and just buy him a plane ticket back to show he is coming back that he is just helping us get settled. Atleast we are only 5 hours from the border so if they do say no to him we can just turn around and go back. We wont have all our stuff. The movers will send our stuff, we'll just have our luggage to get us by until our household goods arrive.

Keeping my fingers crossed we will get an interview in April and not even have to worry about this.

Thanks guys.

Also wouldnt this be no different than when somone goes to visit their spouse when they are wating for their interview date?

Seems to me, and I could be wrong - that proof that he has an interview would be enough.

As you mention, you aren't taking all your stuff, just your luggage. I don't know which border crossing you are going to use, however what I would do is call them and ask to speak to a supervisor and run it by them perhaps. While they won't give you any guarantees - i'm sure you will get a good idea how they will view it.

I agree.

The fact that you’re doing consular processing should be enough proof that he is returning to Canada. You are at the end of the DCF process and will not jeopardize it to adjust status. Bring proof of your DCF package and hopefully by the time you drive down to the US you will have the letter from Montreal with the interview date.

Hi Zyggy.

Just found out we also have couple of T5s to report, 1 for a savings acct interest and the other for a non-registered GIC that will not mature until 2010. Can we report these as a US income i.e. 1099? Or do I have to do report this as foreign income? I am also assuming that both T5s are reported in the same manner.

Thanks again for your help.

We have the digital one. It is similar to this one.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DI631S?tag=th...GREY88ZRYJ&

and it is shiny stainless steel.

We have the Oster convection toaster oven from Costco. I paid less than $60 for it. We use it for baking, roasting, warming up, our pizza stone even fits in it.

Zyggy.

RE 8891 for the LIRA, if it is managed by the same plan provider as my RRSP, do I report the total combined value of the account in one form or do I report it separately in a new 8891?

I would also like to hear your thoughts on completing NR73, should we just let our final tax with a departure date speak for itself or should we file a NR73?

I appreciate the time and effort you put in responding to this thread. Thank you!

Hi Zyggy.

I have a 2 part question:

I received $200 income from Universal Child Care Benefit in 2008. This is the only income we have in Canada. Do we have an obligation to file Canadian taxes or can we just include this with our US income?

In regards to form 8891, I am having difficulty figuring out the value of my RRSP at Dec 31. Can I use the value as at the last statement date, which is Oct 2008? Also, are LIRA’s reported the same way as RRSP’s?

I look forward to your comments.

Thanks

I was able to get mine online (end of feb???) a few years back!! Can't recall the exact site, and I'm soon out the door. I'm sure someone will speak up

You will receive a T4E. I was able to print it from this site last year.

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/online/mysca_byp.shtml

You will need your EI Access code.

I wrote to NVC and included a copy of my childs birth certificate. However, when it's time to complete the DS230, you can also add the childs name at that time as travelling family members.

You will also receive a separate IV bill for the child.

Personally, I would not wait until the interview with the CO.

For those of you who order Canadian goodies on-line, is there a reputable website that you can recommend? I’ve been checking eBay sellers for Tim Horton’s coffee and Diana sauces, but I am finding the prices are all over the place.

Refer to page 3 if you are living in the US in legal status.

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/supplements/MT...L-0003-0808.pdf

We were living in the US on my husband’s work visa at the time of our interview (April 2008). We were allowed to pick up our passports the same day. BTW, our visa was under the F3 category (married son/daughter of USC)

I'm not a big soft drink person, but I always enjoyed a coke here and there until I went to school in the USA and totally lost my taste for it. I thought it was just me until a friend recently came to visit me in Canada and said, "I have to have a Coke while I'm here!" I asked why and he told me that it tastes better in Canada because we use sugar where in the USA they replace much of the sugar with high-fructose corn syrup! This is because the USA has tariffs on sugar which make it too expensive to produce soft drinks with so much sugar.

Apparently this is the case with many products including ketchup! Who knew? Just thought I'd share because there are probably a few people who find thing taste just a little different in the USA. Next time check the label... maybe it is the corn syrup!

Yes, Coke here is definately different, as is ketchup and in fact most things that have sugar in them, we have had quite a few conversations about it, including this one:

What the heck did they do to the Heinz Ketchup???

If you are into pop, you find some other brands like Jones which uses sugar instead of HFCS.

I agree with Jones cola. Hansen's is also good. Both uses cane sugar.

I was on an L1 work visa from 2000 – 2003. We returned to Canada at the end of my assignment. We got our green card, F3 category (married son/daughter of USC) earlier this year. Can I use the time frame that I was on L1 as eligible time to apply for naturalization? Or do I start the five year countdown from when we got the family based greencard?

this job search is getting frustrating...When I place an ad I get a lot of responses but then they ask for my rate which I say is 8 to 10 dollars an hour and then I never hear back from them again.. I am wondering if my rate is too high... I don't think it is, I think it is fair...

I am in the San Diego area, we have a caregiver that comes to our house every second Friday night. We pay her $15 per hour for 4 hours (2 kids - 2 and 7).

When we interviewed her, she gave us a package (booklet style) that included information about herself, information how she handles kids and her style of disciplining, copy of her diploma, copy of her finger print report, credit report, CPR certificate, membership registration, written references/recommendations, phone numbers of references. I was impressed with the presentation. BTW, we got her name from the YMCA, they gave us a caregiver list of service based and individual names.

Maybe you can prepare something similar and give it to prospective clients. Although, I would personally remove the credit info…

You should ask your fiancée to speak /review his coverage with his benefit administrators. . While you may be able to participate in your fiancées plan after marriage, the fact that you are already pregnant maybe viewed by certain benefit plans as a pre-existing condition. Therefore, the associated cost of the pregnancy and childbirth may not be covered.

If your fiancée’s employer plan cannot cover you, you may still purchase childbirth coverage up until the first trimester of your pregnancy. After that, the premium gets too expensive.

[size="5]For those that did a global transfer of their AMEX, I have a question…

I did a global transfer last earlier this year, I brought a car last week, the dealership pulled my credit score and credit report. The credit score was great because AMEX credit history was transferred over but on the detailed credit report there was a note that stated the AMEX account was opened before the SSN was issued. Is this something to be concerned about? Can I have the Equifax remove the notation?[/size]

try this website - http://immigrationportal.com/index.php