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.
My construction company took a job in the US, do we owe tax there?
Not automatically. Business profits are generally taxable in the other country only where the business has a permanent establishment there, and for building work the treaty deals with sites specifically. A construction site becomes a permanent establishment once it lasts beyond the period the treaty sets, which is why the length of the job, and not its value, tends to decide the answer. Below that period there is usually no charge on the profits, though filing may still be required to claim the position. Check the article that applies before the contract is signed, not when the invoice is raised.
When does a building site become a permanent establishment?
When it lasts longer than the duration the treaty article specifies, and the practical work is in knowing when the clock starts and stops. It generally runs from the point work begins on site, including preparatory work, through to completion or final handover, and a site does not usually stop counting because of seasonal or weather interruptions. Splitting one project between associated companies or successive contracts to keep each below the line is the arrangement the provision is most often tested against. Keep dated site records from mobilisation. Reconstructing them afterwards from invoices rarely convinces anybody.
We hired subcontractors across the border, what do we have to withhold?
Payments for services physically performed in a country are commonly subject to withholding at source when the recipient is not resident there, and that obligation sits with the payer rather than the person being paid. It applies whether or not the subcontractor ultimately owes any tax, because it is a collection mechanism rather than a final charge. Relief is often available in advance on application, but it has to be obtained before payment, not claimed afterwards. Getting this wrong makes the payer liable for the amount that should have been withheld, which is a worse position than the tax itself.
Does sending crews across the border create payroll obligations?
Frequently, yes, and separately from anything the company owes on its profits. Employment income is generally taxable where the duties are performed, so a crew working across the border can create both a withholding duty for the employer and a personal filing duty for the workers, even on a project that never becomes a permanent establishment. Treaty relief for short assignments exists but is conditional, often on who ultimately bears the cost of the wages. Track days on site by person from the start of the job. That record is what any later relief claim depends on.
Do we need to register in the state where our project is?
Possibly, and treaty protection does not answer it. The treaty binds the federal government, and individual states are not parties to it, so a state may assert a filing obligation on a nexus test of its own even where no federal charge arises on the business profits. Registration, sales tax on materials, and contractor licensing all sit at that level too. It is one of the more common surprises for a firm that satisfied itself on the federal position and stopped. The state question is worth settling at the bid stage, when it can still be priced.
The job is finished and we have left, do we still have to file?
Usually yes, and filing is often how the position is protected rather than how tax is paid. Where profits are not taxable in the other country because no permanent establishment existed, that treaty-based conclusion is generally asserted on a return rather than assumed. Filing also starts the clock on the period during which the authority can reassess, which not filing does not. The cost of a protective return is small against the cost of establishing the same position years later from records that have been archived and a site team that has long since dispersed.
I have not filed for several years while living abroad — what are my options?
Both countries have routes back, and using one before they contact you is what preserves the relief. On the US side there are procedures aimed at taxpayers whose failure was not wilful, including one designed for people living outside the country, and separate procedures for late account reports and information returns alone. Canada has its voluntary disclosures programme and taxpayer relief for penalties and interest. Filing quietly and hoping is the one approach with no protection attached to it. See catch-up filing.
Is moving money between my own accounts in two countries taxable?
Moving your own capital between your own accounts is not itself income, so the transfer is not what creates tax. What can create tax or reporting is the income the money earned before it moved, a foreign-exchange gain on certain holdings, and the reporting obligations the balances themselves trigger — foreign account and asset reports keyed to balances rather than income. Remittances out of some countries also need certification before the bank will send them. See foreign account reporting.
