Do I file a T4A-NR if my contractor lives in the United States?
Residence tells you which slip is the non-resident one. It does not tell you whether a slip is due. The test is where the work was physically done. If your contractor carried out the work inside Canada, the payment is reportable on the non-resident services slip, whether they live in the United States or anywhere else. If the same person did all of the work from their own country, the payment falls outside this reporting. So the first question is not where they live but where they were standing while the work was performed, and your records have to show it.
Does a treaty exemption mean we can skip the slip?
No. A treaty can relieve the tax and still leave the reporting in place. Withholding applies to services rendered in Canada even where the contract, the invoice and the bank account are all foreign, and even where a treaty will ultimately relieve the tax. The obligation is decided by the facts of the engagement rather than by the tax that ends up owing, which is why a nil position does not remove it. Treat the treaty question and the slip question as two separate pieces of work. One decides what tax is finally due. The other decides what you must report as the payer.
The invoice came from abroad in foreign currency, does that matter?
Not to the reporting question. The contract's governing law, the address on the invoice, the currency it is written in and the account the money lands in are all consistent with a reportable payment, because none of them is the test. Where the work was physically done is. What the foreign currency does affect is the mechanics. The amounts you report are Canadian dollar amounts, so you need to record the conversion basis you used and apply it consistently across the year rather than picking a rate at filing time.
Do we report a fee paid to an overseas speaker at our conference?
Yes, if the speaker delivered the session in Canada. Speakers and performers sit inside this reporting alongside contractors and consultants, because the class of payment is fees, commissions and other amounts paid to a non-resident for services performed in Canada. A single engagement is enough. There is no concept of a payment being too small or too occasional to report. The practical difficulty at conferences is usually record-keeping rather than law, because the fee is often arranged by an agent or bundled with travel. Separate the service fee from reimbursed costs before you file, and keep the paperwork that supports the split.
Who is responsible for filing, the payer or the contractor?
The Canadian payer. The reporting sits with the party making the payment. It does not transfer to the non-resident by agreement, by a clause in the contract, or because the contractor says they will look after their own Canadian position. The contractor may well have a filing of their own to make, and often wants to make one, but that is separate from the payer's slip. If the contractor will not give you the identifying details you need, you still have to report the amounts you paid, so record what you asked for and when you asked for it.
Part of the work was done in Canada and part abroad, what then?
Split it. Because the test is where the work was physically done, only the portion performed inside Canada belongs on the slip and the rest does not. That makes the allocation the substance of the filing rather than an afterthought. Build it from something contemporaneous, such as travel dates, site attendance logs, timesheets or the agenda of the visit, rather than from a percentage agreed after the fact. A reasonable split you can evidence is defensible. A round figure with nothing behind it is what fails when the payer is asked to support it years later.
Do I have to file in both countries?
Frequently yes, and the two filings do different jobs. The country where the income arises taxes it at source; the country where you are resident taxes your worldwide income and then gives credit for the tax already paid. Filing only one side is what leaves relief unclaimed — the credit has to be asked for on a return. We prepare both sides so the numbers agree. See dual filing.
Is double taxation illegal?
It is legal. Two countries can each have a valid claim on the same income — one because the income arose there, the other because you live there — and nothing prohibits both from exercising it. What exists instead is relief: tax treaties allocate the claim, and domestic law gives a credit for foreign tax paid. The relief is not automatic, though. It is claimed on a return, and unclaimed relief is simply lost. See how double taxation is relieved.
