I'm a Canadian citizen who recently moved to the USA on a 2-year J-1 visa. I didn't liquidate TFSA prior to moving, what is the most tax efficient option for me now?

[Anonymous]

As I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong!), under a J-1 Visa, for tax purposes I am a non-resident alien living in the USA, and pay taxes to the IRS (not Canada). This makes sense since all my income is through USA. However I'm also under the impression that having investments through Canada makes filing taxes very complicated. What are the least painful options? If I sell everything now (I've already moved to America) can I escape this painful paperwork? Will I be taxed to hell? Maybe I should just leave my Canadian investments as is?

[bine22]

when did you come to the US?

[Anonymous]

Sept. 6th, 2017. So just under a month ago.

[bine22 · Accepted solution]

On j1 you are indeed a nonresident for the first 2 calendar years, if you are a student for the first 5 calendar years. So assuming you are a nonstudent, you area nonresident alien for 2017 and 2018. In 2019 you would need to use the substantial presence test to determine residency. For 2017 and 2018 you would need to file form 1044NR plus form 8843, reporting only US source income, so you don't even have to report any of your investment income in Canada.

Once you are a resident alien, you have to report worldwide income, but you could use the foreign paid tax credit to offset taxes and there is also a treaty between the US and Canada. See Publication https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-597

Also have a look at publication 519: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519

Turbotax does not support form 1040NR nor 8843.

[Anonymous]

bine22,

Thank you so much for your speedy response and help, I really appreciate it. So it sounds like I do not need to report any Canadian sources of income to the IRS for the first 2 years.

One final question - Although I do not need to report Canadian sources of income to the IRS, surely I have to report Canadian taxable income to Canada, right? Since I just moved to USA a month ago, previously I was being paid a salary in Canada from January - August of 2017. So it sounds like I'll have to file two tax returns now? I.e. 1) My standard Canadian tax return on Canadian income that I've been filing for a few years, and 2) A US non-resident alien tax return to the IRS on US income.

I guess the main point that is emerging (and is what I originally wanted to know), is that for my first 2 years as a non-resident alien in USA, Canadian income is taxed by Canada and American income is taxed by America, right? There is no tax-related cross-talk between countries?

Thanks so much.

[bine22]

I really have no idea about taxes in Canada, so I canät say anything related to your tax liability there. Once you are a resident alien, there is lots of crosstalk, but asa nonresident alien not.