# Accountant for 8891 & 3520



## debbie790 (Dec 28, 2010)

Hi,

I am a dual citizen (US & Canada). I am regular in filing my US tax returns & fBar forms. Since 2011 I have been contributing to RRSP & TFSA, and need to file 8891 & 3520 for 2011 & 2012.

Can any of you assist me or direct to an accountant (reasonably priced). My accountant wants to charge $300/yr/form.

thanks
Debbie


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Actually, I think the 8891 form is the one where they estimate it will take 82 hours a year to fill it out (between the record keeping and the keeping up to date with the requirements) - so $300 isn't a bad deal.

You may want to look around to see if you can find an Enrolled Agent. Usually an EA is somewhat less expensive than an accountant - and they are specialized in taxes, because by definition an EA is accredited by the IRS in tax preparation and can represent their clients in a tax court (if it comes to that). There is more information here: NAEA | Powering America's Tax Experts - and in the upper menu (fine print) there is a link to "find an ea." There are a few EAs listed in Canada. Could be worth contacting one of them to see what their rates are for such things.
Cheers,
Bev


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## HillbillyCanuck (Apr 9, 2012)

I wish I could recommend an accountant/tax preparer for you but my experience with two different firms has led me to go back to preparing my return myself as I did for many years. The first firm did very sloppy work and left me feeling as though I were dealing with a second rate used car dealer. The second firm neglected to prepare my 8938 and 8891 (fortunately I noticed the omission) and ignored several of my written instructions - perhaps the preparer was just having a bad day.

If I have to check every line of the return, I might as well do the work myself.

You might want to pick up a copy of A Tax Guide for American Citizens in Canada by Richard Pound and Max Reed published by Carswell in 2013 and available from their website.

The 8891 form is almost trivially easy although if you want to deduct your contributions you'll need to fill out Form 8838. The book explains them both.

The TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account - a Canadian investment product with highly favourable Canadian tax treatment) is an altogether different can of worms and the 3250 and 3250A forms are complicated enough that several "experts" recommend not having one. I don't for that very reason.

However, it's not entirely clear that the 3250 and 3250A are required. Pound and Reed (the authors of the above mentioned book) state: "Despite the fact that the US is aware of these Canadian investment products, the IRS has never made its views clear on the appropriate US treatment of them. We have written to the IRS seeking clarification, but no reply had been received by the time this book went to press." The authors recommend reporting the income from the accounts, reporting them on your FBAR and 8893 and writing to the IRS requesting directions on future reporting.

Since tax preparers stand to make considerable money from preparing 3250 and 3250A it's not surprising that they take a conservative approach and recommend filing the forms.


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## HillbillyCanuck (Apr 9, 2012)

My bad. The form number to use for deducting RRSP contributions is 8833, not 8838 as in my post.


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