What is included in the fee for dual filing — 1040 + t1 together?
Both returns prepared as one engagement, in the order the credit requires, so relief lands where it is usable rather than being claimed twice in the wrong place.
What would make dual filing — 1040 + t1 together cost more than the standard tier?
Investment products. Local funds, tax-advantaged savings accounts and employer plans each need testing against the other system, and that is where a dual filing stops being two simple returns.
Is the fee really fixed?
Yes, for the scope quoted. If the scope changes — another year appears, an entity turns up, a certificate becomes necessary — we re-quote before doing the work, so there is never an invoice you have not already agreed to.
Do I pay tax twice if I have to file in both countries?
Not if the two returns are prepared in the right order. Both countries can tax the same income, and the mechanism that stops it becoming double tax is a credit in one return for tax paid under the other. That credit only works in one direction for a given item, decided by the source of the income and the residence position, so the return that gives the credit has to be prepared after the one that generates it. Prepared independently by two offices, the same tax often gets claimed twice in the wrong place and relieved properly in neither.
Which return should be prepared first, the 1040 or the T1?
It depends on the income, not on habit. The general shape is that the country with the primary right to tax an item is settled first, and the other return then claims relief for what was actually paid. Employment income sourced in one country, investment income sourced in the other and a residence position that changed mid-year can each point a different way, so the order is decided item by item at the start of the engagement. Getting it right is the reason both returns are quoted as a single piece of work rather than two.
Why quote one fee for both returns instead of two separate fees?
Because it is one exercise done twice over, not two exercises. The same income statements, the same currency translations and the same residence position feed both returns, and the credit computation in one is built from figures in the other. Split between two offices, that reconciliation is nobody's job and the client ends up paying for it twice, in fees and in correspondence. A single fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts covers both returns and the reconciliation between them, and the scope says plainly which filings are included.
My two accountants each claimed the same credit. Can that be fixed?
Usually, and the first step is not a correction but a reconstruction. We set the two returns side by side, identify each item of income by source, and establish which return had the primary right and which should have been giving relief. Only once that position is settled is it clear which return was wrong, and often only one of them was. The corrective filings then follow, prepared as a set so the two countries are being told the same story. That is scoped and quoted in writing once we have seen both filed returns.
I have already filed my US return this year. Can you still do the Canadian one?
Yes, though we will want the filed return and its supporting schedules before quoting, not just the refund figure. The Canadian return has to be built consistently with what has already been submitted, and where the credit is claimed depends on positions already taken on the other side. Sometimes the filed return is fine and the second one is prepared around it. Sometimes the order was wrong and the cleanest route is a corrective filing on the first. We tell you which before any work starts, and the fee reflects the route chosen.
What moves a dual filing from the standard fee into the complex tier?
Extra filings travelling with the returns rather than extra income. Foreign asset or account reports that accompany a return, an advance application to an authority, a treaty position that has to be disclosed, or a third jurisdiction entering the same year will each move the engagement up a tier. So will a year in which residence changed, because the income has to be split at the date rather than simply reported. Straightforward volume, such as several employment slips or more accounts, usually does not.
Why is the price for both returns together lower than two separate prices?
Because the second return reuses the first one's work. Residence is settled once, the income is translated once, and the foreign tax credit on one side is computed from figures already prepared for the other. Filing the pair separately, often at two firms, pays for that reconciliation twice and still leaves the two returns to be matched by hand.
Do I pay tax when I inherit property abroad?
The inheritance itself is often not income to you, but three other things can create tax: the estate may owe tax where the deceased or the property was situated, some countries tax the recipient directly, and the gain from the date you inherit to the date you sell is yours. Reporting obligations can also attach to holding the asset. See inheriting property abroad.
