Moving back from United States — re-establishing residency · competitively priced, fixed fee

Canadians working on US visas, US citizens resident in Canada, and Indian founders whose first foreign entity is a US one. Competitively priced tax help with moving back from United States with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.

  • 15+Years of the founder's cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served across our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
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  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE

Secure a fixed quote

Send what you have. We price the engagement from your own documents, in writing, before any work starts.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
  • 18,000+ clients served
United States in 60 words

The United States taxes its citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income wherever they live, which makes the filing obligation independent of residence. For expats the United States question is rarely whether tax is due here; it is whether the country you left still counts you as resident, which is where this page starts.

Who we act for here

Canadians working on US visas, US citizens resident in Canada, and Indian founders whose first foreign entity is a US one.

Regional filing pattern

Systems in the Americas generally run a calendar year with monthly or quarterly advance payments, and withholding on payments to non-residents is the norm.

The question that decides it

The United States taxes its citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income wherever they live, which makes the filing obligation independent of residence — and state rules apply their own residency and sourcing tests that a federal treaty does not bind.

Moving back from United States — re-establishing residency

This page takes the United States corridor and narrows it to one situation. The general position is on the United States country guide; what follows is what changes for this specific case.

Re-establishing residence starts three clocks: the residence itself, the reporting on foreign holdings, and in some systems a transitional window that limits what is taxable for an initial period. Which of those apply depends on how long you were away.

The team reviewing a file together at a desk

Fixed fees for Moving back from United States, agreed up front

Moving back from United States is priced on the part-year split, with two countries claiming parts of the same year, and on what you leave behind: retirement accounts, a house still held, an employer still paying. Where citizenship keeps the American return open after the move, that continuing obligation is scoped into the written quote.

Non-resident & departure filings
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Returns for the year you leave, the year you arrive, and the years you earn rental or pension income from a country you no longer live in.
See the fee schedule
Individual tax filing
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

One engagement for a personal return that touches more than one country: the income, the assets held abroad and the relief claimed against them.
See the fee schedule
Foreign asset & information reporting
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

The reporting obligations that attach to owning something abroad, worked out from your holdings rather than from the tax return alone.
See the fee schedule
Catch-up & voluntary disclosure
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

For a filing history that stopped — the penalty position assessed first, then the years filed in the order that protects it.
See the fee schedule
Corporate cross-border filing
From $999

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

The corporate return and its cross-border schedules as one engagement, so the group files a consistent position everywhere.
See the fee schedule
Payroll & mobility setup
From $999

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Employer registration and withholding for staff on assignment, arranged before the first pay run rather than corrected after it.
See the fee schedule
Transfer pricing documentation
From $2,500

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Intercompany pricing documented before it is questioned — the functional analysis, the benchmarking and the files that support it.
See the fee schedule
Estate & trust filing
From $799

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

For an estate holding property in more than one country, or a trust with beneficiaries who are taxed somewhere else.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — the complete list of what each engagement costs, stated as figures rather than ranges.

Do you still file at home?

For most people moving to United States the answer is that at least one home obligation survives. Canadian residence ends with the ties; Indian residence ends with the day counts; US citizenship-based taxation ends only on a formal expatriation.

The United States taxes its citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income wherever they live, which makes the filing obligation independent of residence — and state rules apply their own residency and sourcing tests that a federal treaty does not bind.

Residency and the tie-breaker

If both systems claim the same period, the position is settled by the treaty's ordered tests rather than by whichever return was filed first. That order matters: a case that turns on permanent home needs different evidence from one that turns on habitual abode, and the two are rarely assembled together after the fact.

Before any article is relied on, we check what is actually in force between United States and your home country for the year in question — protocols included, and the multilateral instrument's modifications with them. The published text and the operative text are not always the same document.

Income by type: who taxes what

How each income type is treated in this corridor
Income typeGeneral treatment
Social security and state pensionsTreated differently from private pensions in most treaties, and sometimes reserved entirely to one state.
Directors' feesFrequently covered by their own treaty article and taxed where the company is resident, which can differ from where the meetings were held.
Gains on shares deriving value from local propertyCommonly treated like the underlying property rather than like ordinary shares, which reverses the usual answer on share gains.
Royalties on software or know-howDepends on how the payment is characterised; treaty definitions of royalty differ, and some exclude particular categories entirely.
Pensions and retirement incomeDecided by the specific pension article, which is the least uniform provision in the treaty network.
Employment incomeGenerally taxable where the work is physically performed, with a treaty exemption for short assignments where the presence, employer and cost tests are all met.
Income from a locally registered company you controlMay be attributed to you before distribution under your home country's controlled-company rules, whatever the local treatment.

The local nuance

The United States taxes its citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income wherever they live, which makes the filing obligation independent of residence — and state rules apply their own residency and sourcing tests that a federal treaty does not bind. General guides stop before this, which is exactly why it is worth establishing early rather than discovering at filing.

If your position runs mostly in one direction, the Canada ↔ United States cross-border tax page carries both filing calendars side by side, the treaty article by article, and the withholding table.

We also publish regional pages for United States — states, provinces and major centres — at our United States regional index, which is the better starting point if your question is about a specific state or province rather than the country as a whole.

A worked example

Put numbers against it and the shape of the answer is obvious.

Credit relief on one stream of income

Take C$106,000 of income taxed in both countries. Assume the other country charged 18% on it and the home country would charge 42% on the same amount.

Credit relief on one stream of income
ItemAmount
Income taxed in both countriesC$106,000
Tax paid abroad (assumed 18%)C$19,080
Home tax on the same income (assumed 42%)C$44,520
Credit available (lesser of the two)C$19,080
Home tax still payableC$25,440

The credit absorbs C$19,080 and leaves C$25,440 payable at home, because the home rate on this income is the higher of the two. The balance is real cash and it is due on the home timetable, which is why instalments get raised in the first meeting. That is an illustration of the mechanism, not a prediction about your file — the same computation on your figures is the first thing we do.

Treat these numbers as a worked example rather than advice — they exist to make the mechanics visible, and the rates and thresholds are assumed for the illustration. For a real filing, we verify each figure with the authority that publishes it, for your year.

What we fix most often

  1. Assuming the move ended the home-country obligation. Residence ends when the ties end, and a home kept available or a family left behind usually keeps it alive.
  2. Assuming the local adviser has covered the home-country consequence, and the home adviser has covered the local one, when neither has looked at the interaction.
  3. Paying tax twice and calling it double taxation, when the real problem was a credit claimed in the wrong country or in the wrong category.
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google, on a profile open for you to read.
  • Every statutory figure in your file is verified for your own year at source.
  • Authorisation with each authority, so we see the assessments and slips directly rather than asking you for them.

If a letter prompted this, bring the letter — it usually contains the answer to half the questions.

Reviewed against current guidance for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax & Transfer Pricing Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Published as general information. For a position on your own file, call the 24-hour helpline.

Expats in United States — what this page covers

People reach this page searching for expats in United States. It is covered here as it applies to moving back from United States — who it applies to, what has to be filed, and what it costs, at a fixed fee agreed before the work starts.

People also search for: state tax for expats · working abroad and tax.

Canadians working on US visas, US citizens resident in Canada, and Indian founders whose first foreign entity is a US one.

The four phases of the work

  1. Start with a conversation about the facts

    Dates, residence, where the income arose. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to know what applies.

  2. Scope and price, both written down

    You get the scope and the fixed fee together, so there is no question later about what was included.

  3. Prepared by one team, reviewed by a named practitioner

    The same people see both sides of the file, and the reviewer signs their name to it.

  4. Filed, then followed through

    Submission is not the end of the engagement — the queries that arrive afterwards are part of it.

The difference a dedicated cross-border team makes

Factor Legal Quotient Hourly billing model
Pricing A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts Hourly, billed as incurred
Experience 15+ years of cross-border work, 18,000+ clients Varies by file
Both sides of the border Prepared together by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once One country at a time, reconciled later
Who reviews it A named practitioner, published on the page Whoever the queue reaches
Where the work happens Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE Whichever single office you can travel to

Four terms worth pinning down

Resale price method
A method testing the gross margin earned by a reseller, sensitive to consistent classification between cost of sales and operating expense.
Repatriable funds
Money that may lawfully be sent out of India, determined by the account it sits in and how it got there — a separate question from whether tax is owed.
Unified credit
The mechanism by which a US estate and gift tax exemption is applied. The amount available to a non-resident is far smaller than to a US person unless a treaty adjusts it.
Clearance certificate
Confirmation that all amounts owing by a deceased person and their estate have been paid. Distributing without one exposes the representative personally.

Fixed fees around Moving back from United States

Re-establishing residency is a documentation exercise before it is a computation: which ties were broken and when, which accounts were closed or kept, and how the state you left treats the departure. How many of those threads remain open, and how many years since the move are unfiled, is what moves the fee below.

Individual tax filing
$349in US dollars, fixed before work starts

Covers: Personal returns for individuals, expats and non-residents — foreign income, foreign property and treaty relief handled in one engagement.

See this fee page
Foreign asset & information reporting
$349in US dollars, fixed before work starts

Covers: The reporting obligations that attach to owning something abroad, worked out from your holdings rather than from the tax return alone.

See this fee page

What working with us on Moving back from United States looks like

Both sides prepared together

Two returns built against each other by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once and nothing falls between the two systems.

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.

Every figure on a page is traceable

Where a rate or a threshold appears in our writing it names the tax year it belongs to. Where it could not be confirmed, the page describes the mechanism and quotes no number.

The quote comes from your documents

Nothing is priced from a phone call. We read what you have first, then the fee is set — so the scope and the number are agreed on the same evidence.

Two of the firm’s advisers at a desk in the Delhi office
Two of the firm’s advisers and the team in the open-plan office

The engagement, start to finish

  • Step 1: Send what you already have – Slips, statements, prior returns — in any order. We list what is still needed after reading them.
  • Step 2: A fee agreed in writing – Quoted from those documents, before the work starts, and it does not move once you accept it.
  • Step 3: Each side drafted against the other – The returns are built together rather than in sequence, so relief is claimed once and in the right country.
  • Step 4: You approve before it is filed – The finished return comes to you first. Nothing is submitted on your behalf unseen.

Quoted up front, in writing.

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

Keep reading, sideways

Every link below is a full page of its own — the same depth as this one, for its own subject.

Core services for this situation

US person married to a non-resident spouse The full guide to US person married non-resident spouse, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
FEMA compliance for NRIs Its own page: fema compliance for NRIs — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Deemed disposition on death Everything on deemed disposition on death, at the same depth as this page.
Form 26AS — tax credit statement (India) Form 26as India — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Amending a filed return — all three countries The full guide to amending a filed return three countries, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Form 3CEAA — master file (India) Its own page: form 3ceaa India — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Intercompany loans & thin capitalisation Everything on intercompany loans thin capitalisation, at the same depth as this page.
Form 8975 — country-by-country report Form 8975 country by country report — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Form T2062C — section 116 notification The full guide to t2062c section 116 notification, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

Who we help

Tax for short-term rental hosts The full guide to short-term rental hosts tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Non-resident landlords — your filing calendar Its own page: non-resident landlords your filing calendar — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Tax for software developers Everything on software developers tax, at the same depth as this page.
Tax for team-sport athletes Team-sport athletes tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Individuals & families abroad cross-border tax The full guide to individuals & families abroad cross border tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Professors & lecturers — what we charge Its own page: professors & lecturers what we charge — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Touring musicians — what you owe in each country Everything on touring musicians what you owe in each country, at the same depth as this page.
Crypto traders — relief you're probably missing Crypto traders relief you're probably missing — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Tax for nurses working abroad The full guide to nurses working abroad tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

Where our clients live and work

Moving to Switzerland — the tax year you leave The full guide to moving to Switzerland, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Working remotely from Hong Kong Its own page: working remotely from Hong Kong — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Moving to France — the tax year you leave Everything on moving to France, at the same depth as this page.
Working remotely from Switzerland Working remotely from Switzerland — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Moving back from United Kingdom — re-establishing residency The full guide to moving back from United Kingdom, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Buying or selling property in United States Its own page: buying or selling property in United States — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Buying or selling property in Germany Everything on buying or selling property in Germany, at the same depth as this page.
India–Singapore tax corridor India Singapore tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Retiring in Netherlands — pensions & withholding The full guide to retiring in Netherlands, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

The people on your file

Named practitioners, each with the countries and the part of a cross-border file they carry, across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta, International tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing: USA, Canada, India and UAE, Legal Quotient Consultants
Director, International tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing: USA, Canada, India and UAE

CA (India), CA (Malaysia)

Reviews and signs off the practice's cross-border positions, and carries final responsibility for the treaty analysis on every file that leaves any of our offices.

Raghav Gupta, UAE and India international tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing, Legal Quotient Consultants
Director, UAE and India international tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing

FCA (India)

Files that run between the UAE and India: residence, the treaty position, and the benchmarking and documentation behind intercompany pricing.

Vinayak Indolia, CFO services for Canada and India, Legal Quotient Consultants
Director, CFO services for Canada and India

CPA (Canada), CA (India)

CFO services for businesses in Canada and India: the tax position and the finance function made to agree, structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

Files that look like this one

Case study 1

US citizen's continuing filing obligation clarified after a move back to Canada

A US citizen moving back to Canada assumed their US filing obligation would end with the move, not realising citizenship-based filing continues regardless of residence. We explained the continuing obligation, set up the client's ongoing dual-filing routine reflecting their new Canadian residency alongside the unchanged US requirement, and corrected the client's expectations before any filing was missed.

Case study 2

State residency ended correctly for a Canadian returning home after a US visa assignment

A Canadian on a US work visa needed their specific state's residency status properly terminated when their assignment ended and they returned home, since the state's own rules did not automatically align with the end of their federal presence. We reviewed the state's residency test, confirmed the correct termination date, and filed the final state return reflecting the actual departure.

Case study 3

US entity's ongoing compliance maintained after a founder's personal return to India

An Indian founder returning home after establishing a US entity needed the entity's ongoing US compliance addressed independently of their own personal move, having initially assumed the two were linked. We confirmed the entity's continuing filing obligations were unaffected by the founder's personal residency change, and set up the entity's ongoing compliance separately from the founder's own return to India.

Case study 4

A Residency Determination Review After Leaving the Country

Residence is decided on ties, not on a form, and the review asks for evidence of every one of them. The file assembles the ties that were severed and the ones that remained, and answers the questionnaire against the treaty rather than around it.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

Paying a Dividend Up to a Foreign Parent

The withholding rate depends on the treaty, on the size of the holding, and on whether the parent is the beneficial owner rather than a conduit. Establishing all three before the payment is what secures the lower rate at source.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

The Same Income Taxed Twice on Paper

Relief usually exists and is lost to sequence: one country taxes at source and the other credits it, and preparing them in the wrong order claims a credit against a figure nobody has computed.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

A Retirement Plan That Grows Tax-Deferred in Only One Country

Cross-border retirement accounts are recognised by treaty, but the deferral usually has to be elected rather than assumed. The engagement checks whether the election was made, makes it where it was missed, and reports the account on whichever side requires it.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

A Student or Researcher Covered by a Treaty Article

Several treaties carry a dedicated article for students, trainees and visiting researchers that displaces the ordinary employment rules. Whether it applies turns on the purpose of the stay and the source of the funds, both of which are evidenced rather than asserted.

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
  • 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

Related-party purchasing, customs value versus transfer price, and foreign-affiliate structures put trading businesses inside the s.247 documentation rules.

Goods crossing a border move the tax question from income to indirect: registration thresholds, place of supply, the customs value and the transfer price between related entities all have to agree with each other. When they do not, the adjustment arrives from two authorities at once and each one uses the other's number.

  • 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

United States — questions we are asked

Do I have to file at home while living in United States?

Residence decides it, and residence is a question of facts rather than of where your post arrives. The one exception is US citizenship, which carries the filing obligation with the person wherever they go. So the first thing we establish is which system still claims you.

Is there a treaty between my country and United States?

Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.

I own property in United States. Where is the rent taxed?

In United States, because that is where the property sits. The complication is the base: gross-rent withholding takes no account of mortgage interest, tax or repairs, so a leveraged property can face tax on turnover. An election onto net profit, where it exists, is what fixes that — and it has its own timing.

Does giving up US residency require more than just moving away, given the worldwide-income rule?

For a US citizen, moving away does not end the US filing obligation at all, since citizenship alone maintains it regardless of residence — re-establishing residency elsewhere is a separate question from the US filing obligation, which continues unless citizenship itself is formally relinquished.

What happens to US state tax obligations when someone moves back from the US to another country?

The specific state's own residency rules determine when state tax obligations end, and these do not necessarily align with when federal filing obligations change, so a departure from a state needs its own review distinct from the federal position, particularly for a US citizen whose federal obligation continues regardless.

Does an Indian founder need to unwind their US entity when moving back from the United States personally?

Not necessarily — the founder's personal residency and the entity's own ongoing existence and tax position are separate questions, and a founder can move back home while the US entity continues operating, provided its own compliance is properly maintained independent of the founder's personal move.

How long do I have to be out of the country to stop being resident?

There is no single period that settles it. Canada looks at whether your ties were actually severed, not at a day count; the United States taxes citizens regardless of where they live; India applies day-count thresholds with a second limb reaching back over earlier years. Time abroad is evidence, not a rule — what decides it is where your home, family and economic life sit. See tax residency.

How does the treaty tie-breaker work when both countries say I am resident?

As a sequence, stopping at the first test that gives an answer: where you have a permanent home available; if in both or neither, where your centre of vital interests is; then habitual abode; then nationality; and if all of those tie, the two tax authorities decide by agreement. It is evidential rather than elective — you do not choose your treaty residence, you demonstrate it, which makes the record of homes, family and time the substance of the claim. See tie-breaking dual residency.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068

A fixed fee for your United States filing

Describe what happened and which countries are involved; the fee comes back in writing before anything begins.

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  • 18,000+ clients served
  • Fixed fees agreed before work starts

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.

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