Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 33 Comments

The above article appeared in the Toronto Star. Our friend Roy Berg is quoted. The article says that the purpose of the law is to encourage tourism. It appears that the article is open for comments. This would be a good opportunity to explain how U.S. tax laws hurt and will ultimately destroy the U.S.

It includes:

“It looks like a great deal. I can be in Palm Springs for 240 days., but they didn’t tell you that it comes with a very high tax cost,” Roy Berg, international tax lawyer at Moodys Gartner Tax Law in Calgary, said in an interview.

The changes, part of a U.S. immigration reform bill introduced in the Senate on April 15, are likely to become law, but it is not clear when they would take effect, observers say.

Would-be holders of the so-called Snowbird or Canadian retiree visa could become subject to U.S. income tax and estate tax, “and would, therefore, inadvertently light the fuse on the Snowbird Visa tax bomb,” Berg wrote in a recent article.

Under the current rules, those who spend more than 182 days out of 365 days in the calendar year, or more than 120 days per year on average over a three-year period, may be considered a U.S. resident for tax purposes.

The U.S. also imposes an estate tax on the value of certain individuals’ worldwide assets owned at death, Berg said. The estate tax could take effect even for someone who lives in the U.S. for a brief time, depending on the circumstances.

It’s astonishing that:

You can comment on the above article too.

 

33 thoughts on “Canadian snowbirds could join #americansabroad and face US tax servitude”

  1. I have the same problem with Sweden. If you have a place available to you, you can be taxed at that locale, unless it is rented out, or marked for sale.

    I discussed it once with a lawyer, it isn’t really available if it can be shown that it is up for sale. And if it isn’t sold yet when the audit comes, there need not be a reason to explain why it isn’t sold yet.

  3. I wonder how this works for time-shares? I know a person who has renounced. She and her husband do have and go to their timeshare (or exchange for other location) several times a year, Canada to the US. I have no idea how these work.

  4. I even talked to international tax lawyer. I told him I would walk away from the property and let the condo association take it over in 3 months. Strange enough I was worried about getting letter from the condo association and having this on my credit record.
    I told him I did not want the withholding back and I would not file USA taxes. He did not mentioned this was really impossible to do.

  5. Absolutelly, Benedict.

    If this one doesn’t pass, some US congressmen will continue introducing legislation until they win, similar to them trying to bar those who have renounced or relinquished US citizenship from the US and family there. Their punitive ways are for both those with and without significant wealth. It is all punitive — we are, in their eyes, traitors and want to keep that brainwashing going.

  6. @Benedict Arnold be me

    So if you’re a hapless snowbird who returns home to Canada and finds you’re too late in filing the closer connection form 8840, you may not have to pay US taxes under the treaty, but will still have to file returns, FBAR’s, 8938’s, etc etc. Ouch, could be costly to both your pocket book and your privacy!

  7. The thing as well is when you tell the ICE agent you are going down to USA for 182 days or less they never mention the closer connection requirement.

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