There is a nice table on the IRS Website regarding if you really need the Form 8938 versus the FBAR.
A careful reading of the exceptions for my situation says I don't need 8938 but I still need the FBAR.
Hopefully that is your case also. I am not a Turbotax "employee or contractor" Turbotax could really make it easy for Canada / USA filers but they choose not to take any suggestions or improvement to their products. I wrote some last year which were ignored.
I also found out this year that I overpaid taxes last year, because of a lack of understanding of the details of the tax Treaty itself. It would be nice if this were spelled out more clearly regarding Social Security Income from USA and Canada. As well as the Retirement accounts in Canada and Pension income from Canada.
1. Turbo Tax USA should allow import of Canada Forms such as T4, NR4, etc.
2. Allow a currency conversion table associated for each form and make it easy on the user.
3. It could also reference the tax treaty which clearly specifies the some Canadian income is not reportable, or only partially reportable. The biggest problem is how to get the Foreign taxes paid in Canada to be easily deducted or credited.
4. They need a lot of work in this area on form 1116.
5. Employer Pensions from Canada should not be reported as Canada Retirement accounts those are RRIF and RRSP only. Those abbreviations should be added to the Turbo tax guide prompts.
