Case study 1
Two returns for a household where only one spouse is a dual citizen
The couple had been filing in their country of residence together and doing nothing on the other side. Only one of them held the second citizenship, so only one had an obligation there, but several accounts were in joint names and had been pulled in with it. We separated what belonged to each spouse, established which country had the first claim on each item of income, and built the two returns in that order. The engagement produced the filings for the open years, the account reporting that went with them, and a recommendation on how future accounts should be held.
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Case study 2
A tax-sheltered account in one country taxed by the other
The client had faithfully used a savings vehicle that their country of residence makes tax-free and assumed the other country would follow suit. It did not: the treaty stops double taxation, not one country taxing a product the other exempted. We established what the account held, how the arrangement was structured and what the second country made of it, then computed and reported the income arising inside it for each year concerned. The engagement produced the corrected filings, the reporting attaching to the account, and a decision on whether to keep funding it.
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Case study 3
Deciding which spouse would hold a new investment account
The clients came to us before opening an account rather than after, which is rare and worth far more. One spouse was a dual citizen and one was not. We set out what each ownership structure would mean on both returns and what reporting each would attract, including the effect of adding the second spouse to an existing account for convenience. The decision was then made on the facts. The engagement produced a short written recommendation, applied before the account was funded, and a note for any future account they open.
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Case study 4
Unwinding a fund holding bought before the second citizenship mattered
The client had held a pooled investment for years, bought long before dual status was a consideration, and the second country treated the structure far less kindly than the country of purchase. We established how the holding had been treated in each year it was held, what the position was under the second country's rules and what any available election would change. Disposal was considered alongside retention with full reporting. The engagement produced a year-by-year position for the holding, the filings it required, and a costed comparison of keeping it against letting it go.
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Case study 5
A pension in one country and a filing obligation in both
The client had begun drawing a pension built up in one country while holding both citizenships. Pension income sits outside the relief for earned income entirely, so the whole of it had to be allocated under the treaty and then reconciled between the two returns. We established which country had the first claim on each element of the pension, fixed the tax imposed there, and claimed relief on the other return against it. The engagement produced both returns for the year and an allocation the client can reapply each year the pension continues.
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Case study 6
Allocating employment income earned partly in each country
The client worked across both countries in the same year under one employment, and both had withheld against their own view of it. Two returns prepared independently would each have claimed all of the income and all of the relief. We reconstructed the working pattern by period, allocated the employment income between the two countries on that basis, and traced each remittance once it reached the correct system. The engagement produced the allocation, the two returns prepared in the order the allocation dictated, and a record the employer could use for the following year.
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Case study 7
Never Filed a US Return — and Only Just Found Out
Born in the United States, left as an infant, and told by a bank that the returns were owed all along. The work is sequencing: establish which years are actually open, choose the catch-up route on the facts rather than filing quietly, and claim the exclusions and credits that were never taken.
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Case study 8
Coming Back to Canada After Years Abroad
Returning restarts Canadian residence and re-values what you own on the day you arrive. Foreign pensions, employer plans and accounts opened abroad each land differently, and the reporting thresholds are tested against the whole portfolio rather than each account.
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