Introduction …
This post is largely motivated by two recent Facebook discussions.
First discussion:
A recent discussion in the American Expatriates group explored the question of whether a U.S. citizen who was a “tax resident” of another country could use a “tax treaty tie breaker” to avoid U.S. taxation. The discussion began with:
Good Morning, does anyone know something about Tax treaty tiebreakers, Would that be a possible solution for Americans Abroad, Dual Citizens, Accidental Americans ?
Tax treaty tiebreakers are rules that are used to assign a person’s tax residency to one country when an individual is a tax resident of both countries. In the context of U.S. tax treaties, treaty tie breaker rules are used when an individual is both:
1. A U.S. person for tax purposes (U.S. citizen or U.S. resident); and
2. A tax resident of another country.
It is very common to use tax treaties to assign tax residency to a country when an individual is a tax resident of more than one country
Questions:
1. Does this mean that without the “savings clause” that that U.S. citizens living permanently in Canada would no longer be (in a practical sense) subject to “citizenship-based taxation”?
2. If the answer is that: the “savings clause” (by not allowing a “tax treaty tiebreaker”) is responsible for “citizenship-based taxation” in Canada – then is Canada by agreeing to the “savings clause” responsible for imposing U.S. “citizenship-based taxation” in Canada?
Second discussion:
A second discussion raised the question of whether Canadian residents could sue the Government of Canada for entering into a treaty which would subject them to U.S. worldwide taxation. (Although the ADCS FATCA lawsuit argues that the amendments to Canada’s Income Tax Act violate the Charter, one wonders whether one could argue that the IGA itself violates the Charter.)
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