# Taxes for a Telecommuting US Student in Canada



## letsgopens (Oct 22, 2011)

First post here, any advice is welcome. Let me lay out my situation as best as I can:

I'm currently employed as a data manager for a small company in Pennsylvania; but next year I'm looking into completing a specialized degree program, and the one of the best option for this is a university in Canada. It would be a two year program, and I would be attending and living full time there. At the same time, my boss, who adores me, has indicated that she's perfectly happy to let me telecommute to the office as I don't really need to physically be there much anyways. We're thinking that a monthly trip down for 2-3 days would suffice for anything odd that might come up. 

This all made me very happy until I started looking into the tax situation.....mindbogglingly stupefying.


So, here's what I've figured out:

a) Term #1 (Sept-Dec): I'd continue to file this period as a US citizen; no Canadian taxes as I would have only been in the country 4-5 months. That seems rather straightforward. I have a US job payable into a US bank acct.

b) Terms #2 and 3 is where this gets confusing. For that next year I would have to file both federal and provincial taxes in Canada as well as a US return and possibly a state return as well. As I would be in the United States for something more than 35 days but less than 183 due to business travel plus holidays, I wouldn't qualify for the foreign income exclusion. Would this lead to me being double taxed at some prohibitive rate (my salary is between 50-60k USD)? Is there some other tax credit I'd qualify for?

c) Term #4 is uncertain, but likely I think I would be back solely on the US system again, though there is the possibility of maybe filing in Canada (there are some lovely tuition tax credits available).

Thanks in advance for any help and advice I get.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

What university in Canada offers two year degrees?


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## letsgopens (Oct 22, 2011)

It's not a four year program for a BA/BS; it's a Master's level Graduate Program.


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