Will Turbotax handle this situation? Me and my spouse worked in Canada in 2019. We have W2(USA) and no T4(Canada). But, I need to file returns for both countries.

[ganesh_anand]

We were in the US payroll but worked in the Canadian subsidiary of the company at Toronto. So, we have only W2 and no T4. My understanding is we need to file return for both countries. Does Turbotax offer a solution for this ?

[DavidD66]

Yes, you can file your US tax return using TurboTax and you can also prepare and file your Canadian Tax return using TurboTax.  There are two different websites (one US and one Canadian) for the various TurboTax products offered. 

• For Canadian products, go to:  TurboTax Canada
• For US products go to:  TurboTax US

[asha_ganesan]

Thank you for the reponse. I have few more questions.

1) Does the TurbotaxUS  and TurbotaxCanada take care of using the United States-Canada Income Tax Treaty to reduce Double Taxation ?

2) We both stayed in Canada for the entire year 2019. So, my understanding is that i will be considered as Non-Resident. So, does the TurbotaxUS  do the 1040-NR instead of 1040 ? 

3) Can we do joint filing for Canada taxes ?

4) Can we do joint filing for US taxes ?

[LinaJ2020]

1.  The US TurboTax program does not handle the treaty exemption automatically in the system.  If the treaty applies to you, which is out of our scope for advice, you can enter as a negative amount under the "Other Income" section.  

2.  If you both are not a US citizen or resident, working in Canada for the whole year makes you a nonresident.  As TurboTax does not support any nonresident tax forms, you are advised to contact Sprintax which is affiliated with TurboTax to help our nonresident aliens with their US tax returns.

3.  You would need to contact TurboTax Canada: https://turbotax.intuit.ca/tax-software/index.jsp

4. Have you been present in the US before the year 2019?  If no, you cannot file jointly on your US return.  You have to file separately.  For more information, see here:  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040nr.pdf, page 14 under Filing Status

If you have been present in the US before 2019, please provide the month, year and for how long.  

@asha_ganesan

[asha_ganesan]

Hi,

Thank you for the response.

For 4),

We stayed in the US from 2014 to June 21, 2018. Since then, we have been in Canada.

Regards,

Ganesh

[LinaJ2020]

Yes, very likely you can file jointly with your spouse.  

Per IRS, to be considered an income tax resident in 2019,  you have to meet the requirement of 183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before that, counting:

• All the days you were present in the current year, and
• 1/3 of the days you were present in the first year before the current year, and
• 1/6 of the days you were present in the second year before the current year.

Substantial Presence Test  

In your situation, 0+ 1/3 of 2018 days+ 1/6 of 2017 days = 183 days

@asha_ganesan

[asha_ganesan]

Thanks for the response. 

My spouse and I are planning to file separately. Does Turbotax Canada take the tax treaty into account? I will be filling in my salary from US as foreign income.

[KarenJ2]

Are you Canadian citizens?  Are you US citizens or green card holders?   If I understand your situation correctly, unless you had workdays in the US in 2019, you have no US filing requirement if you are not a US citizen or green card holder.   Just because you work for a US employer in Canada does not mean your have to file a US tax return.

You should have completed a Form W-8BEN when you started work for your US employer in Canada.  This form exempts you from the 30% US tax withholding 

If your US employer withheld US taxes, then you need to file a US tax return to have your US taxes refunded.