# Canadian Required to File in US



## Art James

Hi, 

I'm new to this site. I was born in the US but moved to Canada when 2. Lived in Canada until university which I completed in US. I worked in US to support myself through university so filed returns then. I then lived in the UK for 13 years. I continued to file US returns for a number of years (last one in about 1996 or so) but then stopped mainly as my returns got more complicated as I had become self employed (limited company structure) and, to be frank, did not want to spend a lot of money on an accountant to prove to the US I did not owe tax. I was not too concerned about non-compliance as I was a small fish sort of speak. I never filed any FBARs - I had little income back when I was doing returns.

Now things are different with the new requirements I've learned about the new push by the US. Primarily it feels they are after tax haven people, but it seems many living in non tax haven countries which have higher rates of tax than the US could potentially become collateral damage. Paying 5-20% of annual balances per year for not filing FBAR when tax was already paid to a country with which the US has a tax treaty, is a tough pill to swallow. It seems the law not precise in differentiating between the two distinct profiles of bank account holders (off shore not paying any tax and 20-50% tax in other countries). Anyway, that's my rant out of the way. Luckily in Canada, the Finance Mister and others lobbied (from other countries too) the US gov and got this streamlined process put in place. I'm hoping it will help me but am not sure. Though it has not been in place that long, I wondered if I could obtain any views on my chances for being accepted through that process or other people's experiences. I read the IRS site on the streamlined process and the questionnaire so highlight some points that may be relevant in determining whether I'd qualify.

1. Since the time when I used to file returns years ago, I now have accumulated many accounts over the $10,000 threshold, totaling about $800,000 about $100,000 of which is in Canadian retirement account (RRSP) rest in investment and savings accounts. 

2. I have not had any US work days in the last 20 years and only about 10 non-work days in the US over the same period, accordingly, I have no US source income and should not owe tax due to Canada's higher tax rate (assuming the RRSP relief is permitted if I file the correct forms), so should be below $1,500 back-tax threshold

3. I am self employed working through a limited company structure. 

4. I did have a property sale

Other things I was wondering about:

A) Am I more likely to get audited if I prepare returns myself vs. an accountant?

B) Am I correct in assuming that if the IRS accepts someone into the streamlined process that they then don't have to pay the 5-25% penalty on the last six years of FBARs that were not filed but were subsequently filed under the streamlined process?

C) Does real estate property owned have to go on the FBAR? -( I'm thinking of taking my money out of my investment accounts and buy real estate instead and then not have an FBAR filing requirement or have to worry about a bank sending my information to the IRS. Any rental income would likely have to go on the 1040 I guess, but at least I assume no FBAR / bank sharing on me would happen)

D) If anyone has been audited when living outside the US where the country has an information sharing agreement with the US, I was wondering if they actually obtain actual monthly bank records going back for years. With bank info now electronic, I don't even know how much my balance was in the past and even when records were not all electronic , I never kept my monthly statements so would not know what my highest balance was for a particular year. I'd hate to report one number and later get hit on an audit because one month was higher than I remembered.

Many thanks in advance for any input. I hope to be able to add and contribute to this site on my experience as I progress though this minefield.


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## Bevdeforges

You'll get varying opinions about the streamlined compliance process. Basically it seems to be a sort of codification of what was an informal process to prove your "good faith" to the IRS after having neglected to file from abroad for a long period of time. (And, it assumes you owe no US taxes, or very little in US taxes.)

But to answer your specific questions:

A. There's no evidence that preparing your own returns has any effect on your likelihood of being audited. In fact, there are some paid tax preparers who may actually increase your likelihood of being audited because of their track record.

B. Coming forward and back filing for the requisite number of years normally means that you won't be hit with the fines and penalties - as long as there is nothing on your back filings to indicate that you have been willfully failing to file or hiding something that would have resulted in significant taxes.

C. Real estate property doesn't go onto the FBARs, but real estate investments invoke a whole different series of supplementary tax forms for your personal income tax filing, some of which are horribly complicated. The FBARs are relatively simple declaration forms.

D. Personally, I've not yet heard of anyone getting audited overseas. But the full force of the FBAR and FATCA legislation allegedly doesn't take effect until next year, so I guess we have to just wait and see. As I mentioned above, the FBAR forms are simple declaratory forms, and I seriously doubt anyone would be audited for over-reporting their high balance. I normally just estimate my high balance for the year - and then add a few thousand $$ just as a precaution. (Then again, my bank accounts are nowhere near the levels your appear to be.) For the FBARs the important thing is to report the accounts themselves (account numbers and all) and give a good faith estimate of the high balance - they're really only looking for ballpark numbers.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Nononymous

You are basically my twin, in terms of the dates, though I haven't saved anywhere close to as much money. For what it's worth, I've chosen to continue ignoring US filing obligations, at least for the time being.


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## Nononymous

I'm assuming that you are a dual citizen. If so, penalties are largely theoretical. 

Our finance minister has stated that FBAR penalties are "administrative fines" and not collectible under the tax treaty, so in the highly unlikely event that they were assessed (and you have no US assets or income) then the US could not collect. Your paying that money would be a voluntary charitable donation. 

Similarly, Canada does not assist in collecting taxes owed to the US if the tax debt was incurred by a Canadian citizen. 

Which probably explains the reluctance to audit - not much ROI.


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## BBCWatcher

That's a bit understating the potential risks. In particular, the U.S. could (if it so wished) effectively prohibit travel to or via the U.S. for individuals with outstanding unpaid tax liabilities. The U.S. could also "Snowdenize" U.S. citizens in such cases and suspend or terminate their passports, putting them on "do not fly" lists.

There's a lot the U.S. _could_ do, and we should at least be aware of those possibilities.


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## Nononymous

Yes, one assumes that when telling the US to eff-off when it claims you owe it money, you would not be so foolish as to attempt to enter the country or travel on its passport.

I'm not suggesting it's a good idea, necessarily, just pointing out that the penalties currently cannot be collected.


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## BBCWatcher

Nononymous said:


> I'm not suggesting it's a good idea, necessarily, just pointing out that the penalties currently cannot be collected.


Until the next change of government in Canada at the earliest, presumably.


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## maz57

The other parties are even less likely to act as a collection agency for the IRS than the existing (US friendly) Conservative government. However, the US could decide to send in the drones or simply annex Canada. None of those scenarios are very probable in my opinion. 

The fact remains, the US has been effectively practising residence-based taxation in Canada except for those with US source income, cross border business, or those foolish enough to volunteer to send 'em money. The IRS doesn't have the resources to chase down their own resident tax evaders; they certainly aren't going to start invading Canada with hordes of investigators.


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## Nononymous

Prime Minister Mulcair will be very cooperative with the IRS, I'm sure.


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## Bevdeforges

BBCWatcher said:


> That's a bit understating the potential risks. In particular, the U.S. could (if it so wished) effectively prohibit travel to or via the U.S. for individuals with outstanding unpaid tax liabilities. The U.S. could also "Snowdenize" U.S. citizens in such cases and suspend or terminate their passports, putting them on "do not fly" lists.
> 
> There's a lot the U.S. _could_ do, and we should at least be aware of those possibilities.


Just to kind of put this all in perspective, however - in order to bar someone with "unpaid tax liabilities" from the US, they would first have to investigate or audit the person. There are many very legitimate reasons why a US citizen (accidental or otherwise) might not need to file income tax forms in a given year. Most of these relate to insufficient income (i.e. declarable income not exceeding the person's applicable filing threshold). 

And in the event that they were investigating someone's failure to file, they would first have to notify that person that their file was being investigated. If someone is not on the IRS radar to begin with, it is highly unlikely that any action could or would be taken. (After all, there is no way to know if someone even HAS a tax liability until the forms have been filled out.)

To make your way onto a "no-fly" list or to risk being barred entry to the US, you would have had to have had some communication and/or "discussion" with the IRS so that their actions would hardly come as a surprise.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher

I'm not sure I agree with that, Bev. The trend in both the private and public sectors is increasing correlation across databases -- what's called "data mining." It's getting progressively harder to maintain functional anonymity. Moreover, an "audit" in the classic sense isn't necessarily required due to FBAR and FATCA requirements.

I don't want to overstate the risks of noncompliance, but it is fair to say that tax authorities continue to get better at what they do as technology makes their jobs easier. Without getting too specific governments are making heavy investments in tax compliance systems. And yes they are inclined to go after individuals who are not politically powerful -- that's just reality -- and I would put expats on the list of groups that are not politically powerful.


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## maz57

Yes, expats are not politically powerful; but most would owe little or no tax even though their income exceeds the filing threshholds. The big, high profile earners most likely have a cadre of accountants and lawyers on staff, already file and use perfectly legal tax minimisation and tax avoidance strategies. While it may be politically expedient for some Congressmen to target expats, the fact remains that there is little actual revenue to be collected. Heck, the IRS itself has stated via the "streamlined process" they aren't going to penalise those who failed to file but owe little tax. And they have been accepting quiet disclosures for years and continue to do so as far as I can tell.

And yes, the US government is getting better and better information; they also seem to be getting stupider and stupider at actually using that information. The Boston bombings are a case in point. They had everything they needed to prevent that attack yet failed to act effectively in the end.

The IRS has massive problems at home with tax evasion and tax fraud. There is far more to be gained with far less effort at home than going on an expensive world-wide witch hunt. I repeat my point about the US effectively practising residence-based taxation. The combination of FEIE and FTC mean that most US citizens abroad pay little or no actual tax. Why they don't just make it official and drop the citizenship-based taxation (thereby putting them on the same page as the rest of the world) is a mystery to me. When FATCA kicks in (if it ever does, it's been delayed again) the IRS will have so much information coming at them it'll cause a meltdown of their aging systems.


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## Art James

Thanks for your input Bev, much appreciated.


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## Art James

Nononymous said:


> Yes, one assumes that when telling the US to eff-off when it claims you owe it money, you would not be so foolish as to attempt to enter the country or travel on its passport.
> 
> I'm not suggesting it's a good idea, necessarily, just pointing out that the penalties currently cannot be collected.




I've read about the possibility of US border officials looking up or confirming if suspected citizens have filed returns. I have not renewed my US passport for 15 years and have no intention of doing so, but my Canadian passport states in it my country of birth as USA so that in itself could lead the agent to question me..


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## Bevdeforges

One thing to remember is that there is a huge difference between "not having filed a return" and "owing taxes to the IRS." 

It is perfectly acceptable, legal and generally OK not to have filed a return for any year in which you are not obligated to file - usually because your income is below the threshold for your filing status. My father actually got a letter from the IRS telling him NOT to file anymore unless his financial situation changed significantly. Needless to say, Dad only read the first part of that sentence, but never had any difficulty with the IRS. I confirmed with the IRS office here in France that the IRS does indeed send out such letters, mainly to retirees who have been sending in returns they didn't need to for several years.

The fact of not having filed a return should not attract any attention at the border. Attempting to enter the US on a foreign passport with a birthplace in the US is actually a much greater risk.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher

Bevdeforges said:


> The fact of not having filed a return should not attract any attention at the border.


At present, and assuming you're not arriving on a private jet, for example.

I think it's reasonable to expect that this pleasant state of affairs at the border will not last _too_ much longer. I agree with the advice that _if_ you're going to skip filing when you're obliged -- tax returns and/or financial disclosures -- do so with the expectation that you won't be visiting the U.S. and that U.S. reachable assets are vulnerable. U.S. reachable is something more than U.S. territorial.

By the way, there are countries that enforce tax controls at their borders. If the U.S. were to adopt such checks it'd hardly be a pioneer. The U.S. Congress is at least interested in following suit, although it hasn't happened yet.

On edit: I would also add that if you're not tax compliant but visit the U.S. it'd be very wise not to get arrested for anything, including a bar fight you might have gotten caught up in. Prosecutors rarely hesitate to add as many offenses as they can to whatever they first hauled you in for. If you've never shown up as having filed a U.S. tax return, that'll at least be "interesting." Especially if you're staying at an expensive hotel or whatever.


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## Nononymous

Art James said:


> I've read about the possibility of US border officials looking up or confirming if suspected citizens have filed returns. I have not renewed my US passport for 15 years and have no intention of doing so, but my Canadian passport states in it my country of birth as USA so that in itself could lead the agent to question me..


This is where you need to be careful. The US is pretty clear that US citizens must use a 
US passport to enter the US. And unless you have the CLN, a US birthplace is considered proof of US citizenship.

More detailed reply on this when I can type - long story - or search for previous posts.


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## Nononymous

Nononymous said:


> This is where you need to be careful. The US is pretty clear that US citizens must use a
> US passport to enter the US. And unless you have the CLN, a US birthplace is considered proof of US citizenship.


The more detailed version.

In the past, the US passport application included a little signed declaration that you were up to date on US taxes, on pain of a $500 perjury fine. Now, however, it's less strict, you only give them your Social Security Number (or zeroes if you don't have one) on pain of the same fine, and that information is passed on to the Treasury Department. So if you apply for a US passport, the IRS is possibly made aware of your existence, and your country of residence.

The law is very clear on the need for US citizens to have US passports when entering the country. In practice they've largely ignored this, lots of duals have entered on Canadian passports with US birthplaces, but it's becoming more strictly enforced (thanks to something called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, I was told). 

My last US passport expired three years ago. As I decided to remain non-compliant on taxes, I chose not to renew it. Then in December I was stopped by US customs at the airport, flying down for a business trip (first it was that BS line about how "working sessions" weren't meetings so I needed a visa, then he noticed the birthplace and asked about citizenship) and told to get a US passport; I was allowed to enter and continue with my trip.

I decided to take my chances and wait on the passport (for reasons explained below) and subsequently made five more trips to the US (three business, two personal; four by air, one by land) without incident. But it will happen again, sooner or later, so I'm getting the passport.

My options to obtain the passport were:

1. Apply immediately with my Canadian address. Pros: not lying about anything. Cons: would be on the radar, and possibly hear from the IRS.

2. Apply via a friend's address in Oregon. Pros: would stay off the radar since I'd be applying as a US resident. Cons: lying, no record of my having ever having set foot in Oregon should it come up at Customs. 

3. Wait until the fall and apply in Germany, where we'll be living for five months. Pros: not technically lying since I'll be legally resident there. Cons: won't be off the radar, exactly, but there's no connection to Canada so any inquiries would disappear into the void. 

So I'm going with option 3. 

To sum up, if you're a dual citizen with a US birthplace on your Canadian passport, you will likely encounter difficulties crossing the border at some point in the future, and if you apply for a US passport, the IRS may follow up. I say "may" because I don't know if they will. But at least you're no longer asked so sign a declaration about tax compliance, so you can get the passport without perjuring yourself if you aren't compliant.


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## Art James

Nononymous said:


> The more detailed version.
> 
> In the past, the US passport application included a little signed declaration that you were up to date on US taxes, on pain of a $500 perjury fine. Now, however, it's less strict, you only give them your Social Security Number (or zeroes if you don't have one) on pain of the same fine, and that information is passed on to the Treasury Department. So if you apply for a US passport, the IRS is possibly made aware of your existence, and your country of residence.
> 
> The law is very clear on the need for US citizens to have US passports when entering the country. In practice they've largely ignored this, lots of duals have entered on Canadian passports with US birthplaces, but it's becoming more strictly enforced (thanks to something called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, I was told).
> 
> My last US passport expired three years ago. As I decided to remain non-compliant on taxes, I chose not to renew it. Then in December I was stopped by US customs at the airport, flying down for a business trip (first it was that BS line about how "working sessions" weren't meetings so I needed a visa, then he noticed the birthplace and asked about citizenship) and told to get a US passport; I was allowed to enter and continue with my trip.
> 
> I decided to take my chances and wait on the passport (for reasons explained below) and subsequently made five more trips to the US (three business, two personal; four by air, one by land) without incident. But it will happen again, sooner or later, so I'm getting the passport.
> 
> My options to obtain the passport were:
> 
> 1. Apply immediately with my Canadian address. Pros: not lying about anything. Cons: would be on the radar, and possibly hear from the IRS.
> 
> 2. Apply via a friend's address in Oregon. Pros: would stay off the radar since I'd be applying as a US resident. Cons: lying, no record of my having ever having set foot in Oregon should it come up at Customs.
> 
> 3. Wait until the fall and apply in Germany, where we'll be living for five months. Pros: not technically lying since I'll be legally resident there. Cons: won't be off the radar, exactly, but there's no connection to Canada so any inquiries would disappear into the void.
> 
> So I'm going with option 3.
> 
> To sum up, if you're a dual citizen with a US birthplace on your Canadian passport, you will likely encounter difficulties crossing the border at some point in the future, and if you apply for a US passport, the IRS may follow up. I say "may" because I don't know if they will. But at least you're no longer asked so sign a declaration about tax compliance, so you can get the passport without perjuring yourself if you aren't compliant.



Thanks for the input. I had not realized the US required dual citizens to hold the US passport. I'll keep that in mind for the future.


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## BBCWatcher

Art James said:


> I had not realized the US required dual citizens to hold the US passport. I'll keep that in mind for the future.


The U.S. does not require its citizens to hold U.S. passports as a general matter.

The U.S. legally requires its citizens to use only U.S. passports (or passport cards if applicable) to enter the U.S. from other countries (with a few narrow exceptions such as U.S. military movements). The U.S. does not currently have exit controls, so there is no U.S. passport requirement upon exiting the U.S.


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## Nononymous

Indeed. The law requiring US citizens to use a US passport when entering the US has been on the books for aeons, but enforcement has been spotty to non-existent, at least when coming from Canada. This however seems to be changing, and I'd expect them to get stickier in the future.

Tales of US customs checking tax status at the border appear to be largely mythical. Nothing on the forum, or in any of my mildly paranoid late-night Google explorations, suggests that this has happened to ordinary sorts of persons. (Obviously, identified tax offenders with cases in process against them for hiding money in Swiss banks who foolishly enter the country find themselves arrested are a completely different matter.) This happy situation could of course change one day.


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## Art James

Bevdeforges said:


> You'll get varying opinions about the streamlined compliance process. Basically it seems to be a sort of codification of what was an informal process to prove your "good faith" to the IRS after having neglected to file from abroad for a long period of time. (And, it assumes you owe no US taxes, or very little in US taxes.)
> 
> But to answer your specific questions:
> 
> A. There's no evidence that preparing your own returns has any effect on your likelihood of being audited. In fact, there are some paid tax preparers who may actually increase your likelihood of being audited because of their track record.
> 
> B. Coming forward and back filing for the requisite number of years normally means that you won't be hit with the fines and penalties - as long as there is nothing on your back filings to indicate that you have been willfully failing to file or hiding something that would have resulted in significant taxes.
> 
> C. Real estate property doesn't go onto the FBARs, but real estate investments invoke a whole different series of supplementary tax forms for your personal income tax filing, some of which are horribly complicated. The FBARs are relatively simple declaration forms.
> 
> D. Personally, I've not yet heard of anyone getting audited overseas. But the full force of the FBAR and FATCA legislation allegedly doesn't take effect until next year, so I guess we have to just wait and see. As I mentioned above, the FBAR forms are simple declaratory forms, and I seriously doubt anyone would be audited for over-reporting their high balance. I normally just estimate my high balance for the year - and then add a few thousand $$ just as a precaution. (Then again, my bank accounts are nowhere near the levels your appear to be.) For the FBARs the important thing is to report the accounts themselves (account numbers and all) and give a good faith estimate of the high balance - they're really only looking for ballpark numbers.
> Cheers,
> Bev


The Streamlined process questionnaire includes “During any of the above-listed tax years (6 years), did you receive income from any of the following income sources in your country of residence: rental income, sales of property, inheritance?”

I am wondering if I answer yes to that will I be then ineligible for the streamlined process. I wouldn’t expect anyone would know with any certainty how the IRS uses a response to such a question in determining eligibility for the streamlined process. Likely eligibility depends on the whole range of questions in the questionnaire to judge whether someone’s return is straight forward. It seems very subjective or perhaps the IRS does have a guide for their staff such that certain responses to certain question(s) would determine whether a person is considered to qualify for the streamlined process. Participants in this forum have probably seen the questionnaire form, the top section of that form is “eligibility” and has four questions.

1. Have you resided in the U.S. for any period of time since January 1, 2009? 
2. Have you filed a U.S. tax return for tax year 2009 or later? 
3. Do you owe more than $1,500 in U.S. tax on any of the tax returns you are submitting through this program? 
4. If you are submitting an amended return (Form 1040X) solely for the purpose of requesting a retroactive deferral of income on Form 8891, are there any adjustments reported on the amended return to income, deductions, credits or tax? 

Answering “yes” to any question means you are ineligible for the streamlined process according to the document.

Then there are three other sections to the questionnaire: Financial Accounts/Entities, Tax Advisors (not relevant in my case as I plan to deal with the paperwork myself) and Tax Position (the question on real estate income I copied above falls under this section). 

It’s not clear to me whether the sections that come after the Eligibility questions are used to determine eligibility or not. I suspect they are used to as inputs into making a subjective decision to put a person into a compliance higher risk category.

I had a sale of a residence which I deem a primary residence in Canada. Where the US allows homeowners to write off mortgage interest expenses, Canada allows unlimited gains on a primary residence. The US seems to cap the gains; gains have to be rolled into new home; split across non-US spouse; various criteria. In any case, assuming that house sale would also qualify to be considered free of cap gains tax as a primary residence, the way I am interpreting that question is that that sale would not be considered “income” in which case I could answer “no” to the question without perjuring myself as it specifically asks if I received income (and capital gains free of tax is not income and does not even go on the return).

I am assessing the specific questionnaire closely as the guidance from the IRS indicates that anyone deemed not eligible for the streamlined process may want to consider the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. I have been in contact with an accountant in Canada and what they are getting their clients to do is simply fill in a spreadsheet which has all the bank balances for each account for each year in columns and then they take 10% (or some percent close to that I don’t recall) for each year!! And calculate what to pay the IRS. Effectively if you have $100,000 in an account for 6 years, you get hit with the % each year!, they are expecting you to turn over a very large chunk of that money for not filing the forms. (again, this is an accountant in Canada, not some off shore haven, telling Canadians to this when they have already paid tax on the interest in those accounts in Canada!). If for example some of my real estate gains are not qualifying tax free gains under US tax code, I could be tripped up on the $1,500 in taxes owed question, in which case I’d be funneled to the all too expensive Voluntary Disclosure Program. Any insights much appreciated. I wondered if anyone is actually working as a tax consultant as their line of business.


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## Nononymous

I would not use that accountant in Canada. Sounds utterly absurd, if not criminally stupid.


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## BBCWatcher

It's generally the case that if you're having to explain too much your answer to a question you're probably not being truthful. 

Have you ever heard of the term "tax-free income"? I certainly have, and so has the IRS. The IRS uses the exact term "tax-free income" about 200 times on its Web site. Income is income. If a question is asking about income (sans qualification or adjectives), it's asking about income.


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## Bevdeforges

I, too, would be VERY wary of using a Canadian accountant for something like this. Some of the "advice" I have heard people quote from their "Canadian accountants" related to US taxes is amazingly wrong. The only exception would be if that Canadian accountant is also an Enrolled Agent, which does require certification by the IRS that they are up to date on US tax matters.

That said, there are a couple of "issues" with some of what you seem to "know" about US taxation. There is no longer a requirement that proceeds from the sale of your primary residence be re-invested in another primary residence. (That got changed years ago.)

I would not worry about those questions in section 3 or 4 of the questionnaire leading to disqualification from the simplified compliance. They are simply looking for sources of income that need to be reported. Is there some field manual to guide the IRS officials in the evaluation of these forms? Yeah, most likely. But your job is to demonstrate that any technical violation was done in innocence and good faith and not to hide income you knew you owed taxes on. But the FBAR forms are disclosure forms only - not tax forms. At this point, at least, they are not waiting to swoop down on you for any minor error in reporting - what they are primarily interested in is the existence of the accounts (including account numbers) and a general idea of how much you have in the account. If you report a high balance of $100,000 and you actually have $125,000 in the account at some point in the year, they probably won't raise a fuss unless it's clear you were fudging the numbers deliberately. Just as reporting $150,000 when your actual high balance was only $125,000 also shouldn't cause any problems. 

But don't let tax advisers stampede you into doing anything in a panic. That's the real crime here IMO.
Cheers,
Bev


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## NursieGirl1980

*Canadian on US will and taxes*

Hello! I am being proactive here! My dad who lives in US, i am a ex-US citizen now, he wants to ad me to his WILL and when he passes I will inherit some money (not millions just maybe a few thousand) as well as some personal household goods. My question is.... Would i have to file taxes to the IRS after receiving those items or is it all done by the executor of the estate (not me) before goods and money dispersed?

My dad was thinking of adding me on his Chequing and savings accounts sooner or later to make it "easier" on me later but i question if he does that, would i have to file us taxes yearly due to my name on a US account? 

I just don't understand all the google sites and especially the IrS site on this stuff.

I renounced in march 2012 and i went on wheres my refund to check status and verify taxes received (final 8854 etc) and it still says in process.....is that bad?


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## Bevdeforges

Generally speaking, it's the estate itself that pays taxes before distribution of the estate. So, if and when you inherit from your father, it should not create a need to file a US tax return unless your inheritance generates US source income - say, if you left the funds in a US bank account that was paying you interest. (And then, they are supposed to withhold at a 30% rate for a foreigner holder.)

As a co-signer on your father's account, you shouldn't run into any problems with IRS reporting, as long as your father remains the primary account holder and any interest is reporting against his social security number.
Cheers,
Bev


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## NursieGirl1980

Awesome!!! Thanks so much for that info! What a relief and I always want to make sure
I am not in error of doing things wrong, they scare the you know what out of me 

Have a good day Bev!


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