Do Canadian snowbirds have to file Form 8840?
Many do, and they are usually surprised by it. The statement is for someone who meets the US substantial presence day-count test but whose tax home and closer connection remain in another country — which is the ordinary position of a Canadian who winters in the south and lives the rest of the year at home. Meeting the day count is what puts you in scope. Filing the closer-connection statement is what sets out, on the record, that your life is centred elsewhere and that you should not be treated as a US resident for tax.
I only visit for the winter — why would I be a US resident?
Because the test is arithmetic and it looks back over more than a single year. Days from earlier years are brought into the count, so a pattern of long winters can cross the line even though no individual winter feels like living there. Immigration status plays no part in it: a visitor who is plainly admitted as a visitor can still be a resident for tax purposes on the day count alone. That is exactly the gap the closer-connection statement exists to close, and it is why people who have never had a US tax obligation acquire one quietly.
What counts as a closer connection to Canada?
The question is where the centre of your life sits, and you answer it with facts rather than with an assertion. Your tax home has to remain in the other country, and your personal and economic ties have to point there more strongly than they point to the United States. That is a matter of evidence, so the work is in assembling what is true about where you live, where your affairs are administered and where you return to. Where the ties have genuinely moved south, the statement is not available, and saying so early saves a wasted filing.
Is Form 8840 the same as the treaty tie-breaker?
No, though they aim at the same outcome. The closer-connection statement is made under the US domestic rules and rests on your tax home and your ties. The treaty tie-breaker is a separate route, claimed differently, that resolves residency between two countries when both would otherwise claim you. They are not interchangeable: facts that support one may not support the other, and the choice between them belongs at the start of the work rather than after a form has been filed. Which route fits is decided on the year's facts.
Does a green card holder file Form 8840?
The statement addresses residency that arises from the day count. Someone who is a US resident for tax on a different basis is not helped by it, because the thing they would be disclaiming is not what made them resident in the first place. It is worth establishing which basis applies before any form is prepared, since the answer changes the route completely and, in some cases, means the correct filing is a resident return. That is not the answer clients hope for, but it is cheaper to hear before the winter than after a notice.
Do I have to file it every year I spend the winter in the US?
Each year stands on its own. The day count is worked out for that year using the relevant earlier years, and if the test is met, the statement is made for that year. A statement filed once does not carry forward, and a winter that was short enough to stay under the count does not need one. In practice the sensible habit is to total the days every year before filing season, so the decision is made on the arithmetic rather than on an impression of how long you were away.
How many days can I spend in a country before I become tax resident?
It depends on the country, and a day count is only ever the start. Many use a threshold in a tax year, some also look at averages across several years, and some have no day test at all and decide on where your home and life are. Two countries can both conclude you are resident, which is what the treaty tie-breaker exists to settle. Counting days without checking the tie-breaker is how people end up filing as resident nowhere. See the residency tie-breaker.
Do dual citizens pay taxes in both countries?
Both countries can have a claim, but paying double taxes on the same dollar is the exception rather than the rule. The United States taxes its citizens wherever they live; Canada, India and most others tax on residence. So a dual citizen living in one of them often files in both — a resident return in one, a citizen return in the other — while the credit and exclusion rules mean the total is usually close to the higher of the two, not the sum. Filing twice is not paying twice. See two returns as a dual citizen.
