Moving to the states but still working in Canada

[x-wind]

I'm a Canadian and want to become a permanent residence in the states through my wife who is a dual citizen. Going to keep my job in Canada.

Off chance anyone has done this or similar?

Talked to an immigration lawyer, he's going to charge 5K and take care of the paperwork for permanent residence for intial 2 years and the renewal for 10.

Trying to find an accountant to get advice on how the rest of it will shake down.

Cheers,

PS I searched as I thought I saw similar topics to this before but came up empty.

[FL007]

I think there was another thread here about long haul guys living out of Canada but still based there.

Do quote me, because I really don't have any clue but if I were to guess, unless you declare yourself a non-resident you'd have to pay taxes in Canada, and I guess the states too if you're a resident as well, which foreign tax credits can be applied.

That being said if you're working at a regional you'll only be able to prove being out of the country for 12 days/month max so you probably won't be able to declare non residency if you work here 18 days.

[digits_]

But why? A big group of pilots would kill for the right to work in the states at the moment. Which Canadian operator is so great you want to avoid being paid in USD and getting sign-up bonuses??

[x-wind]

Thanks guys, I'm going to look for that thread about long haul guys.

I chatted with an accountant, the taxation treaty prevents double taxation, I'll be taxed in Canada since I'm working for a Canadian company and based in Canada. I'll file a return to the IRS and apply my Canadian tax as a credit to the IRS ... effectively zeroing any amount due to the IRS because Canadians are taxed more on income.

Special circumstances for pilots is that I can avoid Canadian tax when I'm flying out of Canada's borders and being paid. I will have to pay tax to whomevers territory I'm over which in my case, to be practical will be the US, so the IRS will get some tax dollars that way from me.

Gotta sell my house in Canada which is really my only main physical asset in Canada in order to get accepted as a permanent resident.

[HansDietrich]

But why? A big group of pilots would kill for the right to work in the states at the moment. Which Canadian operator is so great you want to avoid being paid in USD and getting sign-up bonuses??

True, but this may be temporary, after which they come back to Canada. If I was flying for a good company in Canada, I'd have no reason to go to another place in the US, just because I may end up making a little more. Not all flying jobs are crap (paid) here.

[nbinont]

The treaty text (should you want some "light" reading material): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/canada.pdf

In essence:
1. The country in which you earn the income will always tax that income earned in that country.
2. The country in which you are a resident (for tax purposes) will tax all your income (regardless of source). Credits are available for taxes paid in the other country.
-The US deems all it's permanent residents and citizens to be residents for tax purposes .
-Canada lets you tell them where you are a resident for tax purposes (but becoming a non-resident means you are deemed to have sold all your taxable assets and you get charged capital gains on all of it! Don't do this frequently!).

Your accountant gives good advice. You may also have to claim the US income on your Canadian taxes, then claim tax credits for them if you file as a resident of Canada.

[JBI]

Hi X-wind,

I was doing this for a while. The Wife and I are both Canadian but she is down here for work opportunity for a few years. For a couple of reasons, it didn't make sense for me to get on with a US carrier (though it was tempting, a few factors were beyond my control). Her company set up the visa situation. For her there was a huge amount of paper work. For me it was show up at customs with her and our marriage certificate. Because your wife is American, I do imagine that the visa situation for you would be more complex. The few other general things to keep in mind: 1- US Customs takes quite some time in processing paper work, 2- With Trump, the immigration laws haven't really changed, but they are being interpreted much stricter, 3- Hopefully your wife has great health insurance, while there are some benefits of the US system (i.e. you can get in to see a specialist quite quickly), it is pretty confusing and even with a decent plan, there's a lot my wife's insurance doesn't cover.

Although my visa does give me the right to work down here, when I was going back and forth, especially in uniform, it was no issue with customs as they saw that I was employed in Canada.

Because I wasn't a long haul driver, I didn't bother with trying to get the tax discounts. There have been a few tax court cases by AC pilots which eventually led to Section 115(3):

Non-resident employed as aircraft pilot

(3) For the purpose of applying subparagraph (1)(a)(i) to a non-resident person employed as an aircraft pilot, income of the non-resident person that is attributable to a flight (including a leg of a flight) and paid directly or indirectly by a person resident in Canada is attributable to duties performed in Canada in the following proportions:

(a) all of the income attributable to the flight if the flight departs from a location in Canada and arrives at a location in Canada;

(b) one-half of the income attributable to the flight if the flight departs from a location in Canada and arrives at a location outside Canada;

(c) one-half of the income attributable to the flight if the flight departs from a location outside Canada and arrives at a location in Canada; and

(d) none of the income attributable to the flight if the flight departs from a location outside Canada and arrives at a location outside Canada.

It's less of a 'deal' than it was before, but still a sizeable tax breaks. The problem, in theory, could end up being if you were flying to the US on any of your flights, would the US consider the other 50% to have been earned in the US. I honestly don't know. If you were going to go that route, it would definitely be worthwhile speaking with an accountant.

Send me a PM if there's anything else I can help with.

[Stinky]

I live in the US and used to commute to a Canadian regional.

I was a non resident of Canada. The tax treaty has a special clause for air crew. A flight that departs Canada and arrives in the US is split 50/50 for tax purposes.
I simply took my total T4 income and divided it by my total flight hours flown in a year to come up with an hourly rate.

You’ll need to file a multi jurisdictional return in Canada and pay each province for the hours you flew there.

Mine generally worked out to about 45% of my income being non taxable in Canada. I paid enough tax in Canada and had enough deductions in the US that I never paid taxes in the US. I actually received money in the form of refundable tax credits for having children.
It worked out incredibly well.

[CanadianBird]

Tax exemptions are one thing. Hope you have a great health care plan, because your free Health Care in Canada will be kaput.

[C.W.E.]

https://globalnews.ca/news/3599458/cana ... ers-study/

Canada's health care is pathetic.

It is nine to five, five days a week except holidays.

I went through the agony of the system when my wife was thermally ill and it was something I never want to experience again.

[digits_]

https://globalnews.ca/news/3599458/cana ... ers-study/

Canada's health care is pathetic.

It is nine to five, five days a week except holidays.

I went through the agony of the system when my wife was thermally ill and it was something I never want to experience again.

Could be, but the US is on the bottom, so a valid point in this discussion.

I tried to see a doctor for a relatively minor issue. Our local doctor is booked up for the next 6 weeks. How many people know they will be sick in the next 6 weeks Something's really fishy with the way it's organized here.

[C.W.E.]

Something's really fishy with the way it's organized here.

There is nothing fishy about it, it is how socialism works wherever it is tried, socialism ends when the country collapses and I will probably live to see it happen here.

Can anyone here show me a country where socialism has worked?

[digits_]

Something's really fishy with the way it's organized here.

There is nothing fishy about it, it is how socialism works wherever it is tried, socialism ends when the country collapses and I will probably live to see it happen here.

Can anyone here show me a country where socialism has worked?

The healthcare in Europe is pretty socialism inspired, and works pretty good. Better than in Canada I must say.

[C.W.E.]

The healthcare in Europe is pretty socialism inspired, and works pretty good.

What socialist European countries have good medical services?

Better than in Canada I must say.

Why is Canada's medical services so inefficient in your opinion?

By the way, the best medical service I ever experienced was in Saudi Arabia , but I sure wouldn't want to live there.

[ant_321]

https://globalnews.ca/news/3599458/cana ... ers-study/

Canada's health care is pathetic.

It is nine to five, five days a week except holidays.

I went through the agony of the system when my wife was thermally ill and it was something I never want to experience again.

I’m not sure where you live but in my experience the quality of health care varies greatly depending on where you are in the country. I come from the east coast where it is normal to wait hours to see a doctor in an emergency, weeks for anything not urgent and months for any type of specialist or certain tests. Since moving to southern Ontario I have been quite pleased with the health care. I had a minor issue come up and from the time I walked into a walk in clinic, had blood work done and then an ultrasound it was about 3 hours. That would have taken weeks in my old neck of the woods.

[C.W.E.]

I live in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and the health care service here is deplorable.

Maybe Nanaimo is not in Canada as far as health care goes?

[BigQ]

From my limited knowledge, for you, the best way to go is to move to the States, become a permanent resident, but never ever become a citizen.

Also, healthcare in the States is so much better than the Canadian system. That is why over 50,000 Canadians go to the US for healthcare every year. People often confuse government-paid insurance with government-provided health care.

[JBI]

Although this type of thread drift is one of the biggest problems with AvCanada, I will unfortunately add to the problem. Neither the Canadian nor US health care systems are perfect. There is lots of great reading about the different systems in the world and, generally speaking, the systems that have more government funding and access for all are considered 'better'.

As someone who has lived in both Canada in the US, I would still hands down take the Canadian system over the US system. There are some positives with the US system for sure (such as being able to get in to see a specialist for non-urgent matters very quickly) but my experiences with the Canadian system through multiple surgeries and procedures has still been more positive than my experience with the US system. Though, it should be noted that both my experiences were generally in major cities in each country.

While I'm often accused of being a bleeding heart small l liberal, there should be more discussion in Canada on how the allocation of healthcare resources should be spent. Also, a system where there is a very controlled availability for people to self pay (Many countries do this successfully) to both improve access and provide additional funding for the system as a whole should be considered.

[Stinky]

From my limited knowledge, for you, the best way to go is to move to the States, become a permanent resident, but never ever become a citizen.

A permanent resident is subject to the same tax obligations as a citizen with the disadvantage of being restricted on their ability to file as a non-resident or leave the country for an extended period of time without risking their green card.
The only slight advantage would be that it's a more costly and complex process to renounce citizenship than it is to give up a green card.
If your intention is to move permanently to the U.S than gaining citizenship as soon as possible is the way to go.

[C.W.E.]

The best way to go would be to join one of the caravans heading for the states and get everything fast and free.

Just tell them you are from a third world country.