Do I need to come to your office?
No, though you are welcome to: we have offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE. Documents move through a secure portal, and meetings can be in person or by video, arranged around your time zone. Clients in the Gulf, India, Europe and across North America all work with us the same way.
Does it matter which of your offices handles my file?
No. The same named reviewer signs off, the same authorisation is filed with the tax authorities, and the same fixed fee is agreed in writing before any work starts.
Do I have to leave my US accountant to work with you?
No, and we would usually advise against it. Your preparer knows your American position and your records; we take the part of the file that sits outside the United States. The two pieces have to talk to each other, so we agree at the start which figures pass in each direction, on what basis and by when. What you get is a written division of the work rather than two advisers each assuming the other has dealt with something. The fee here covers our part only, and it is fixed in writing before anything starts.
Who handles the Canadian side if my preparer only does US returns?
We do, and that is the most common engagement on this page. It covers the Canadian return itself, any withholding or notification arising from Canadian-source income or a Canadian property, and the figures your American preparer needs in order to claim relief for the tax paid here. Those figures go across in a form they can use, with the workings attached, rather than a finished return they then have to interpret. Where they want to raise a question directly with us, that is simpler than routing it through you.
How do the two preparers avoid double counting my income?
By agreeing the schedule before either return is drafted. Each item of income is listed once, with the country holding the primary right to tax it, the currency and the period it was recorded in, and which return reports it first. Relief for foreign tax is then claimed against a final figure rather than an estimate. Most of the double counting we are asked to unpick came from two returns prepared at the same time from the same raw documents, each adviser making a reasonable assumption about what the other was doing.
I am a US resident with Indian income, can you handle that?
Yes. The third-country side of a file is a large part of what clients in the United States engage us for. The work is usually less about computation than about periods and evidence: income recorded against a year running from April to March has to be re-cut to the calendar year before it can be reported, and the relief claimed for tax paid abroad depends on getting that split right. We either prepare the Indian side or work from your accountant's figures there, and pass the result to your American preparer.
Can you prepare Canadian corporate filings for my US company?
Yes, where the company has a Canadian subsidiary, a branch, or activity in Canada that creates an obligation. The first question is usually whether what the company does in Canada amounts to a taxable presence at all, because the answer decides whether there is a full filing obligation, a treaty-based return, or nothing. Where there are charges between the companies, those need documentation supporting them on both sides. We set out in writing what applies before any preparation work is quoted.
What do you need from my US preparer to get started?
Usually the prior year's returns with the schedules behind them, plus a short note setting out what they hold and what they expect from us. The returns tell us which positions have already been taken, and that matters more than it sounds: a position taken consistently for years is not one to change without a reason. From you we need the documents for the part of the file that sits outside the United States. Send what you have and add the rest as it arrives.
Which countries have a tax treaty with the United States?
Around sixty, including Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Australia and most of western Europe — but the list matters less than the terms, because each treaty caps rates and allocates income differently. Two countries with treaties can produce opposite answers on the same pension or the same royalty. What decides your position is the specific article covering your income type. See our country guides.
What is double tax relief and how is it given?
Three mechanisms, and which one you get depends on your residence country's law and the treaty. Exemption leaves the foreign income out of the residence-country base. Credit taxes it and then subtracts the foreign tax, capped at the residence-country tax on that income. Deduction merely reduces taxable income by the foreign tax, and is usually the weakest. Canada and the United States lead with credit; several treaties give exemption for specific income types. See claiming the credit.
