Document checklists

What to gather before the engagement starts, and why each item is asked for.

  • 15+Years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served
  • 5.0Google rating
  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
  • 24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
What is on this page

16 pages in this section. What to gather before the engagement starts, and why each item is asked for.

← All cross-border tax answers

Every page in this section is written to the same standard: it opens with the block that exists nowhere else on the site — a threshold, a treaty article, a rule that applies to one group and not the one beside it — and it carries one worked example, worked through in full rather than a set of generalities.

Where a page needs a statutory threshold, a rate or a day-count, that figure is verified against the issuing authority before it ships. Where it cannot be verified for the year in question, the page states the mechanism and quotes no number, because a wrong threshold on a page like this is worse than no page at all. Every statutory page also carries the name of the person who reviewed it and the date they did.

Fees are fixed and agreed in writing before any work begins, and you review the finished work before it is filed. Documents move through a secure portal and you can meet us at any of our offices, so where you are makes no difference to how it works.

  • Consultations scheduled to your working day rather than ours.
  • 18,000+ clients served across 4 global offices: India, the USA, Canada and the UAE.
  • Documents move through an access-controlled portal rather than email.

Reviewed against current guidance for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. General information, not advice for your circumstances — call our 24-hour helpline to discuss your own position.

Questions readers ask before they pick a page

What does the Document checklists section cover?

16 pages. What to gather before the engagement starts, and why each item is asked for. Each one opens with the part that applies to that situation and nowhere else — a threshold, a treaty article, a filing that one group owes and the group beside it does not — and works one example through in full.

How are fees set for document checklists?

The fee is fixed and agreed in writing before any work begins, priced from the documents you send rather than estimated afterwards, and it does not move once accepted. You see the finished work and approve it before anything is filed.

Who checks the work before it is filed?

A named adviser reviews every return and every information filing before it goes out, and the statutory pages on this site carry the name of the person who reviewed them and the date they did it. You approve the finished work yourself as the last step.

How do I get a quote for document checklists?

Send what you have — a return, a notice, a set of statements, in whatever state it is in — through the secure portal after the first call, and you get a written fixed fee back. Or call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068 and we will tell you what is needed.

A named reviewer on every filing

Get document checklists handled for a fixed fee

Send us the facts. You will get a scope and a fixed fee in writing, and nothing starts until you agree to both.

  • 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google
  • Your existing accountant keeps the domestic file

Why clients bring document checklists to us

One team, not two firms billing separately

You are not the go-between for two sets of advisers with two sets of assumptions. One engagement covers each country the file touches.

4 global offices

Meet us in person in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE, or send everything through the secure portal — the same process either way.

Residence is tested, not assumed

Where you are resident for treaty purposes is a question with a method. We work through it and write down the answer, with the facts it rests on.

18,000+ clients served

Individuals, expats and corporations across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE have filed with us — 15+ years of cross-border work.

The firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office
The team at work in the open-plan office

How the work runs — quote first, then the work

  • Step 1: Documents first, questions second – We read the file before asking anything, so the questions we do ask are the ones that matter.
  • Step 2: A quote you can hold us to – Fixed in writing against a defined scope. No hourly meter, and no revision after the fact.
  • Step 3: The order of filing decided deliberately – Which return goes first can decide whether relief is available at all. That is planned, not discovered.
  • Step 4: Nothing filed without your sign-off – You see the completed work, ask what you need to, and approve it before submission.

Quoted up front, in writing.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068

Keep reading, sideways

Browse sideways: the pages below answer the neighbouring questions.

Services these clients use most

Shadow payroll The full guide to shadow payroll, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Indian payroll for a foreign employer Its own page: Indian payroll for a foreign employer — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Foreign beneficiary of a Canadian trust Everything on foreign beneficiary of a Canadian trust, at the same depth as this page.
Form NR7-R — refund of Part XIII tax Nr7-r refund of part xiii tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
FEMA compliance for NRIs The full guide to fema compliance for NRIs, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Limitation on benefits — the treaty test Its own page: limitation on benefits treaty — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Form W-8BEN-E — entity treaty claim for Canada Everything on w8ben Canada tax treaty, at the same depth as this page.
Form RC4288 — taxpayer relief request Rc4288 taxpayer relief request — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
India ↔ Singapore — DTAA The full guide to India ↔ Singapore — DTAA, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

Who we bring this work to

Tax for mechanical & electrical engineers The full guide to mechanical & electrical engineers tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Non-resident landlords — relief you're probably missing Its own page: non-resident landlords relief you're probably missing — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Cross-border truck drivers — relief you're probably missing Everything on cross-border truck drivers relief you're probably missing, at the same depth as this page.
Franchise owners — relief you're probably missing Franchise owners relief you're probably missing — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Touring musicians — your filing calendar The full guide to touring musicians your filing calendar, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Tax for diplomatic & consular staff Its own page: diplomatic & consular staff tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Media & production companies cross-border tax Everything on media & production companies cross border tax, at the same depth as this page.
Tax for influencers & content creators Influencers & content creators tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Property developers cross-border tax The full guide to property developers cross border tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

The corridors we work every week

US–Germany tax corridor The full guide to US Germany tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Canada–Netherlands tax corridor Its own page: Canada Netherlands tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Georgia tax for expats — country guide Everything on georgia tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Namibia tax for expats — country guide Namibia tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
India tax for expats — country guide The full guide to India tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Ghana tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Ghana tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
India–Singapore tax corridor Everything on India Singapore tax, at the same depth as this page.
Uzbekistan tax for expats — country guide Uzbekistan tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Norway tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Norway tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

Cross-border situations we are engaged for

Case study 1

An estate with papers scattered across several countries

The executor had boxes of correspondence, statements in more than one language, and no list of what the deceased actually owned or where. Nothing could be filed until that was known. The work started with the checklist rather than a return: identifying each asset and each account, establishing which jurisdiction had a claim on it and on what basis, and requesting from institutions what the family could not find. The engagement produced a documented inventory with a source for every line, which then drove the filings in each country.

Case study 2

A client who sent everything and had sorted nothing

The papers arrived complete and entirely unordered, which is a better problem than the opposite but still a problem. Working the checklist against the pile did two things. It turned the material into a filing set organised by year and by income stream, and it exposed what was genuinely missing rather than merely mislaid. The gaps were identified in the first week and requested immediately, so nothing was discovered late. The engagement produced an ordered document set, a short list of outstanding items, and a scope that did not move after it was agreed.

Case study 3

Withholding certificates reconstructed from the payers' own records

The client's relief claim depended on evidencing tax withheld abroad, and the certificates for the earlier years had not been kept. Asserting the amounts was not an option, because a relief claim has to be supported. The work was to identify each payer, request duplicate documentation for the years concerned, and reconcile what came back against the bank credits actually received, so that every figure was traceable. The engagement produced a supported claim for each year in the span, with the evidence held rather than promised.

Case study 4

Document gathering that set the scope of a pricing review

A group knew it needed transfer pricing documentation and wanted a fee before anyone knew what existed. Working the checklist first answered that: intercompany agreements existed for some flows and not others, and the flows without paperwork were the ones carrying most of the value. The gathering stage therefore determined the work, rather than the other way round. The engagement produced a mapped set of intercompany transactions, the agreements and records supporting each, and a fixed fee agreed in writing for the documentation that followed.

Case study 5

A departure asset list built from records rather than memory

The client was leaving the country and had drafted their own list of what they owned, from recollection, over an evening. Departure computations turn on what was held on a particular date and what it was worth then, so a list without sources is a computation that cannot be defended. The work was to rebuild the list from statements, registers and title documents as at the departure date, and to value each item on evidence contemporaneous with it. The engagement produced a sourced inventory that the departure filing was then prepared from.

Case study 6

Ordering the years before a voluntary disclosure was submitted

The client had decided to come forward and wanted to submit quickly, with whatever was to hand. A disclosure is read as a whole, so an incomplete one invites exactly the enquiry it is meant to close. The checklist set the order of work: establish the span of years, obtain account-level detail for each, reconcile the accounts against the income reported, and only then draft. The engagement produced a submission in which every year was supported by documents obtained from the institutions themselves.

Case study 7

A Company Abroad Owned by a US Person

A business incorporated where the owner lives is a foreign corporation to the IRS, with a reporting package of its own and schedules that need local accounts restated. Classification comes first, because it decides what is reportable and when profits are taxed.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

A US Filer Married to Someone Outside the System

Electing to treat a non-resident spouse as a US filer buys joint rates and brings that spouse's worldwide income and foreign accounts into the return. The election is easy to make and hard to revoke, so both positions are modelled first.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.

U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns

Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.

Expat & Emigration Tax

The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.

Non-Resident Canadian Tax

Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.

Cross-Border Estates & Trusts

Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.

India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents

The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.

Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element

Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.

UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country

A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces

Cross-border tax for sellers shipping worldwide: marketplace withholding, foreign registrations and inventory nexus handled before they become audits.

Marketplaces withhold, remit and report in their own right, so the tax position of a single sale is decided by where the stock sat, where the buyer was and which platform collected — not by where the company is registered. We reconcile the platform's own filings against the returns before either is submitted.

  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces

Technology & SaaS

  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS

Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers

Remote Workers & Digital Nomads

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

Our practitioners are alumni of leading accounting and tax institutions

Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Request a Quote +1 (416) 619-0068