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Tax Considerations of Canadians in Florida

Canadian residents are taxable on their world-wide income and capital gains. For most Canadians, this isn’t much of a concern since all of their income and property is in Canada. However, if you have property in or income from another country, you may have to deal with tax reporting and payment in that other country. The United States is a country with which many Canadians have dealings, and Florida is a state in which many Canadians spend time and own property.

If you are born in the US, have US citizenship or green-card, spend long periods of time in the US, or own property in the US, you may have to deal with the Internal Revenue Service and have filing and tax-payment obligations. The Canada-US tax treaty is meant to neutralize many of the potential problems for people who are tax residents of both Canada and the US, but this treaty doesn’t cover all of the issues that may arise.

US citizens (and double residents), just like Canadian residents, are required to pay tax on their world-wide income. The Canada-US tax treaty contains resident tie-breaker rules that try to assign a single residency location to people who are otherwise residents of both countries. However, the test is far from clear but and it is possible that the IRS and the CRA each take the position that you are a resident of the country. If this happens, you will have to prove your residency under the treaty, and this can be costly. It’s always best to be proactive and make sure you clearly fit one of the tie-breaker rules so you’re always the resident of either only Canada or the US. These rules can be complex, and expert tax assistance is often required.

Even if you are not a US resident, the IRA can deem you to be a resident. The most common situation is one that many Canadian snow-birds may face. If you spend too much time in the US, the IRS will deem you to be a tax resident under US law. The US uses a “substantial presence” test to add up the number of days you spend in the US over a period of three (3) years, and if these days over the past three years add up to 183, you will be deemed to be a US resident for tax reasons. If you are deemed to be a resident, you may have tax filing obligations and may face penalties that can be as high as $60,000 per failed reporting (in addition to criminal charges). Where you are deemed to be a US resident because of your length of stay, you have to file a Form 8840 and prove to the IRS that you have a closer connection to Canada than the US. The test mirrors that in the tax treaty, and considers a number of factors such as the location of your permanent home, the location of your family, social connection, cultural connections, business activities, and so on.

There are special tax problems when you own property in Florida (or other US states). Not only does having two properties you spend a considerable amount of time at make it harder to meet the treaty tie-breaker rules for residency, but there are also other tax issues. If you rent out your property for any period of time, then you have to file and pay income tax in the US, and any money that comes to you in Canada is subject to a 30% withholding tax on the gross amount (not deducting any expenses). To avoid this high rate, you would need to file an election to pay tax on net income and a tax return. Where you sell your property, the funds coming to Canada face a 10% withholding tax which is set off against the capital gains tax payable in the US (and the obligation to file a tax return in the US). You also have to pay property taxes and, if you pass away and still own the property, estate taxes in the US. All of these issues can make tax and estate planning very complex and difficult.

If you have property or income connections to the US or another country besides Canada, talk to a tax expert to figure out your international tax obligations.

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This is an announcement from Aaron Baer, legal counsel to Faris CPA.

I have been working with Faris CPA for more than 10 years.

Faris CPA is being attacked by Kenneth John Weakley (Oct 1969).

I am posting this review because Kenneth John Weakley has been deleting his reviews and has been reposting them, so that Faris CPA's responses don't always show up.

Faris CPA's position is as follows:

Faris CPA is a well-regarded firm that is compliant with CPA Ontario obligations and has a good track record.

Under no circumstances will Faris CPA be paying Kenneth John Weakley any amount.

Kenneth John Weakley's claims do not have any merit.
Response from the owner:Thank you Aaron for your help with this matter. Please see below my entire response to Kenneth John Weakley fake reviews: “Attention all readers: Kenneth John Weakley DOB October 20, 1969 Address: Address: 821A Fulham Road, London, U.K. SW6 5HG ( Title: NGL449634) Faris CPA and 3 other reputable lawyers in the GTA are being aggressively attacked with fake Google reviews posted by Kenneth John Weakley (DOB October 20, 1969). Unfortunately, his repeated blackmailing and extortion attempts in the past few months have failed and he is still hoping to be successful by keep posting those false and fake reviews. Please note all personal information mentioned in our response is available online, publicly available and anyone can access it and none of the information was obtained while doing business with Kenneth John Weakley. Feel free to Google his name and see the below link to confirm. As such, there is no breaching confidentiality issue whatsoever. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/EfbNEs5kNSRQeb9uq8kdZL0LGm8/appointments Based on the above link you will see the following information: This is a fake review posted by Kenneth John Weakley (DOB: October, 20 1969). Address: 821A Fulham Road, London, U.K. SW6 5HG
Had a very good experience with Sam and his team. They dealt with my CRA audit in the most efficient way possible. I admire their professionalism and expertise in providing answers to the CRA and providing a perfectly reconciled package which was a key to resolve the tax issue. If you look for a tax consultant firm, hire Farid CPA. 10 stars
Response from the owner:Thank you for the five stars and the positive review.
I was referred to Sam Faris by a family member who highly recommended him to deal with my CRA audit matter which has been ongoing for almost 2 years. Considering that this was a sensitive issue, I needed to make sure that Sam would be the right fit to handle my case. I requested an in-person meeting. I met with Sam for more than 2 hours. He went through CRA proposal letter and immediately identified the weaknesses in CRA’s calculations. He immediately advised on the best approach to dispute this proposal and provided a time line when he will submit the counter analysis. I was impressed with his confidence and his expertise and decided to retain his services. He worked on my file around the clock to ensure meeting the deadline. At the end, Sam was able to reduce the tax bill and I was able to pay it with no hesitation. While Sam was working on the file, he was in a full control with the situation by communicating with the auditor on timely and professional manners. I never felt that I was left in the dark as Sam was always providing me with an update. I do recommend to hire Sam for any dispute with the CRA. Thanks
Response from the owner:Thank you for your positive reviews and kind words.