What moves an engagement up a fee tier

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The drivers are structural, they are visible before the work starts, and none of them is a surprise you find out about on the invoice.

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  • 15+Years of cross-border experience
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  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
In short

A fee tier is decided by how many filings the engagement contains and how much of the record has to be rebuilt before they can be prepared — not by how difficult the subject is to talk about. Every driver below is established on the first call, which is why the number can be fixed before the work begins.

The drivers that actually move a fee

  • A second jurisdiction. Two returns that have to agree with each other is more work than two returns, because the reconciliation is the work.
  • Information returns travelling with the filing. A foreign-property statement, an affiliate return or an account report each has its own test and its own penalty exposure.
  • Reconstruction. A year whose records have to be rebuilt from statements costs more than a year whose records arrive complete.
  • Unfiled years. Each additional year is an additional return, and the earliest one usually sets the cost base every later year depends on.
  • Entities. A corporation, a trust or a partnership in the picture brings its own filing and its own deadline.
  • An advance application. A waiver, a clearance certificate or a lower-deduction certificate has to be applied for and followed up before the filing it protects can be completed.
Two of the firm’s advisers and the team in the open-plan office

What does not move it

Asking questions. Sending documents in more than one batch. A subject being technically complicated when the documents are complete — a treaty tie-breaker on a clean set of facts is a well-defined piece of work. Being nervous about the file, which most people are, and which costs nothing to talk through.

How you find out which tier you are in

On the first call, before anything is prepared. The tier follows from the answers to a short set of questions — how many countries, how many years, which entities, what is missing — and the written quote states both the number and the scope it covers. If something in that list changes once the work is underway, we re-quote and wait for you rather than adjusting the invoice at the end.

The jobs this applies to

Every priced engagement on the site works this way. These are five of them; the full schedule is on the pricing index.

Your next step

If you want to arrive prepared: the prior-year returns, the dates that matter, and any letter or slip that prompted the question. If you would rather just talk it through first, that works too. If that describes your position, the next step is a short call — not a form.

Contact us — 24-hour helpline

Reviewed for accuracy for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. General guidance only. Your own facts decide the answer, so bring them to a call before relying on this.

How much is income tax in US — what this page covers

The subject here is what moves an engagement up a fee tier, which is what people mean when they search for how much is income tax in US. This page covers who it applies to, the filings it produces, and the fixed fee agreed before work begins.

The four phases of the work

  1. Hand over the paperwork in any state

    Sorting it is our job. Send what exists and we identify what is missing from it.

  2. Priced before a single form is opened

    The fee comes from the documents, agreed in writing, and stays where it was agreed.

  3. One position across every return

    The same facts, filed consistently on each side, so nothing contradicts anything else.

  4. Filed after you have read it

    The completed work reaches you before it reaches an authority.

What you are actually buying with what moves an engagement up a fee tier

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

Key terms behind this page, defined

Non-resident alien
A US tax classification for someone who is neither a citizen nor a resident under the green-card or presence tests. Non-resident aliens are taxed on US-source income and on income connected with a US business.
Sojourner rule
A rule that makes a visitor resident for a whole year by reason of days spent in the country, regardless of ties. It is the trap for people who thought presence alone was harmless.
Subsidiary
A separate company in the foreign country, which ring-fences liability and creates withholding, transfer pricing and a second set of accounts.
Master file
A transfer-pricing document describing the group as a whole — structure, intangibles, financing — filed locally in several countries at once.

The published fees closest to what moves an engagement up a fee tier

Every card links a published fee with its scope spelled out — quoted in writing from your documents up front.

Non-resident & departure filings

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: 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 this fee page

Individual tax filing

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Individual returns where salary, investments or property sit outside the country of residence, prepared so relief is claimed once and in the right place.

See this fee page

Foreign asset & information reporting

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Foreign holdings mapped once — accounts, real property, shareholdings — then reported to each authority in the form it requires.

See this fee page

The difference a dedicated cross-border team makes

Late and missed years are ordinary work

An unfiled history is not a reason to wait longer. We assess what is still open and what relief the delay attracts before the first return goes in.

We say early if it is not our work

If a file needs something this practice does not do, you hear that at the start rather than after a bill.

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.

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 firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office

What moves an engagement up a fee tier — the four phases

Step 1

Initial call

We start with the chronology: dates, countries, and what has already been filed

Step 2

Scope and fee

You get the scope and the fee in writing before we touch anything

Step 3

Preparation and review

The work is prepared and reviewed by a named person, not a queue

Step 4

Filing and payment

Nothing is filed until you have read it

The team at work in the open-plan office

The engagement, start to finish

  • Step 1: Tell us the dates and we will tell you the position – Arrival, departure, the years in between — the residence question turns on those before anything else.
  • Step 2: Fixed fee, defined scope, in writing – Both agreed before work starts, so the engagement cannot grow into a larger bill.
  • Step 3: Prepared together, not passed between firms – You are not the go-between for two sets of advisers working from two sets of assumptions.
  • Step 4: Reviewed, approved, filed – A named practitioner checks it, you approve it, and then it goes.

Quoted up front, in writing.

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

The rest of this practice

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

CRA net worth audit Its own page: CRA net worth audit — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Section 85 — rollover on incorporation Everything on section 85 rollover on incorporation, at the same depth as this page.
Form RC269 — foreign plan contributions Rc269 foreign plan contributions — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Returning to India after years abroad The full guide to returning to India after years abroad tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Regulation 105 waiver Its own page: regulation 105 waiver — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Cost-sharing between group companies Everything on cost sharing between group companies, at the same depth as this page.
Non-resident with Canadian dividends or interest Non-resident Canadian dividends interest — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Keeping a home in Canada while abroad The full guide to keeping a home in Canada while abroad, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Outbound investment (ODI) from India Its own page: outbound investment (odi) from India — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.

Who we bring this work to

Cross-border truck drivers — your filing calendar Its own page: cross-border truck drivers your filing calendar — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
E-commerce & marketplaces cross-border tax Everything on e-commerce & marketplaces cross border tax, at the same depth as this page.
Tax for seafarers & mariners Seafarers & mariners tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Tax for mechanical & electrical engineers The full guide to mechanical & electrical engineers tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Management consultants — relief you're probably missing Its own page: management consultants relief you're probably missing — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Technology & SaaS — your filing calendar Everything on technology & saas your filing calendar, at the same depth as this page.
Cross-border truck drivers — what you owe in each country Cross-border truck drivers what you owe in each country — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Technology & SaaS — what you owe in each country The full guide to technology & saas what you owe in each country, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Construction & contracting — what you owe in each country Its own page: construction & contracting what you owe in each country — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.

The corridors we work every week

Canada–Netherlands tax corridor Its own page: Canada Netherlands tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Canada–United States tax corridor Everything on Canada United States tax, at the same depth as this page.
Chile tax for expats — country guide Chile tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Israel tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Israel tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Malaysia tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Malaysia tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Nigeria tax for expats — country guide Everything on Nigeria tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
US–Portugal tax corridor US Portugal tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Colombia tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Colombia tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Bahrain tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Bahrain tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.

The people on your file

Five named practitioners, each with the part of a cross-border file they carry. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta

Udit Gupta

Cross-Border Tax Expert

CA (ICAI), In-Depth Tax Trained

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

Abhinav Gupta

Abhinav Gupta

Canada Tax / International Tax

Canada Tax, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax, Transfer Pricing

Canadian returns with foreign income, non-resident filings, and the transfer-pricing documentation that runs alongside intercompany work.

Raghav Gupta

Raghav Gupta

International Tax

International Tax, Transfer Pricing Specialist

Benchmarking, method selection and the local-file and master-file sets that support a group's pricing policy under examination.

Anmol Mittal

Anmol Mittal

Canada and US tax

CPA Canada, CPA USA, CA (ICAI)

Files that have to be right on both sides of the border at once — dual filings, streamlined catch-ups, and the foreign tax credit reconciliation between them.

Vinayak Indolia

Vinayak Indolia

CFO advisory

CPA, CA. Fractional CFO and Senior Advisory Specialist

Groups that need the tax position and the finance function to agree: structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

What these engagements turn on

Case study 1

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 2

Coming Back to Canada After Years Abroad

Returning restarts Canadian residence and re-values what you own on the day you arrive. Foreign pensions, employer plans and accounts opened abroad each land differently, and the reporting thresholds are tested against the whole portfolio rather than each account.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

Canadian Pension Paid Abroad and Taxed at the Flat Rate

Pension and annuity payments to a non-resident carry a flat withholding that often exceeds what a return would produce. The alternative filing is elective, and whether it helps depends on the total income for the year rather than on the payment alone.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

A TFSA That Costs More Than It Saves

Canadian tax-free accounts are not tax-free to a US person, and some of them carry a reporting form of their own. The file is a review of what is held, what each account triggers on the US side, and whether the account is worth keeping once the reporting is priced in.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

Ten Years of Missed Returns Filed as One Engagement

Filing many years at once is a sequencing problem: carry-forwards, instalments and credits from the earliest year feed the latest. Filing them out of order is what turns a recoverable position into an assessed one.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

An NRI Selling Indian Property With Tax Withheld on the Price

Withholding on a sale by a non-resident is applied to the sale value rather than to the gain, so it routinely exceeds the tax due. A lower-deduction certificate obtained before completion avoids locking the difference up until a return is assessed.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

Two Passports, Two Returns, One Income

Dual citizenship does not let you choose which country taxes you. The work is establishing residence, applying the treaty article that governs each income type, and preparing both returns from one set of figures so they agree line for line.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

A Group File That Had to Describe the Whole Group

The master file is a picture of the business rather than of one company, and it has to agree with what each local file says. Assembling it surfaces inconsistencies between entities that nobody had compared.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

How and where the work is delivered

Browse sideways: the pages below answer the neighbouring questions.

Where the work is delivered

More coverage detail

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

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

Treaty residency & tie-breaker
FATCA reporting (Form 8938)
Foreign tax credit (Form 1116)
Multi-country filing calendar
Real estate holding structures
International tax planning
Pre-immigration tax planning
Family office structures
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

Form 1040 from abroad
US state non-resident returns
FBAR (FinCEN 114) filing
Form 5472 — foreign-owned US corp
FIRPTA withholding (Form 8288)
US estate tax exposure
IRS streamlined foreign offshore
PFIC reporting (Form 8621)
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

Departure tax leaving Canada
T1161 properties on emigration
Residency planning
Step-up in cost base on arrival
Split-year residency
Employment income under a treaty
Social security totalization
Returning to Canada after years abroad
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

Section 216 rental return
NR4 & NR6 withholding
Section 217 pension return
Section 116 clearance certificate
Regulation 105 waiver
Non-resident employment income
Taxable Canadian property
Part XIII withholding review
Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

s.247 contemporaneous documentation
Functional & risk analysis
Benchmarking study
Intercompany agreements
Country-by-country report
BEPS & Pillar Two
Permanent establishment risk
TP audit defence file
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

Cross-border wills
US estate tax for non-resident aliens
Terminal return & clearance certificate
Non-resident trusts (s.94)
T1141 & T1142 trust reporting
Inheriting property abroad
Graduated rate estates
Post-mortem planning & pipeline
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Entity selection across borders
Business profits & PE
Intercompany loans & thin cap
Paying dividends to a foreign parent
Global mobility & day tracking
Debt vs equity funding
Branch or subsidiary
Cross-border M&A due diligence
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

NRI residency day tests
NRE, NRO & FCNR accounts
TDS on property (s.195)
Lower or nil TDS certificate
Repatriating sale proceeds
Capital gains on Indian shares
India–Canada DTAA
ITR-2 for NRIs
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

T1135 foreign property
T1134 foreign affiliates
Departure tax
Newcomer's first return
Returning to Canada
Split-year residency
US citizens in Canada
Canada–US corridor
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

Expat tax in the UAE
Moving to the UAE
Moving back from the UAE
UAE property purchases
Retiring in the UAE
Canada–UAE corridor
India–UAE DTAA
US–UAE corridor
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

  • 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

Working from anywhere doesn't mean taxed nowhere: residency defaults, employer payroll exposure and treaty relief decide where income actually lands.

Working from another country does not by itself end tax residence in the one you left, and it can start one where you are sitting. Day counts, ties, the employer's own exposure and the treaty tie-breaker all point at the same question, and the year you move is the year it has to be answered on paper.

  • 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

What moves an engagement up a fee tier — questions we are asked

Can you tell me the tier before I send any documents?

Usually yes, from the first call, because the drivers are structural: how many countries, how many years, which entities, whether an advance certificate is needed. Where the answer genuinely depends on what the documents show, we say so and scope that review as its own small fixed fee rather than guessing high.

Does a tighter deadline move the tier?

It can, because compressing a file means reordering work that is already scheduled, and that is a real cost rather than a penalty. It is priced in the quote you agree before the work starts — never added afterwards.

Is the tier the final number?

The quoted fee is the final number for the scope quoted. The tiers exist to make the fee predictable before the conversation, not to leave room to move afterwards.

Do American citizens living abroad have to pay taxes?

American expats and green card holders need to file US returns for life, and many of them pay little or no US tax once the relief is applied — but the filing is what unlocks the relief, so the two questions have different answers. The exclusion for foreign earned income, the credit for foreign tax already paid and the treaty between the two countries between them usually leave the total at roughly the higher of the two countries' tax rather than the sum. Skip the return and none of it applies. See Americans abroad.

Is double taxation legal?

Yes. Nothing prevents two countries from taxing the same income under their own domestic law — each is exercising its own jurisdiction. What treaties and credit systems do is relieve the outcome rather than prohibit the charge, and relief is generally something you must claim on a return or a form, not something applied automatically. Miss the claim and the double charge stands. Double taxation explains the mechanism.

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.

Tax terms explained

Totalization agreementSchedule FAMLIWash saleBlack Money ActEffective tax rateEconomic employerWorldwide incomeGIFT CityProtective returnDeemed dividendTransfer certificateMark-to-market electionEarnings stripping Browse the full A–Z glossary

Pricing, terms and the work itself

More in this section

All pricingFee terms: scope, re-quotes and correctionsWhat is in a written quoteRush work and late filings — how we price themFixed fee against hourly, stage by stageFixed fee in writing first — how it worksPaying from abroad — currency and method

Where this leads next

Newcomer first return — fixed-fee priceNRI Indian return (ITR-2) — fixed-fee priceForm 3CEB certification (India) — fixed-fee priceGST/HST non-resident registration — fixed-fee priceFBAR & Form 8938 disclosure — fixed-fee priceT1134 foreign affiliate reporting — fixed-fee price

Fee schedule

Canadian return with foreign income — fixed-fee priceForm 3CEB certification (India) — fixed-fee priceTransfer pricing — local file — fixed-fee priceT1134 foreign affiliate reporting — fixed-fee price
A named reviewer on every filing

Talk to us about your engagement

Tell us the situation and we quote in writing before any work starts. You approve the result before it is filed.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068 See fixed fees
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
  • 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Your existing accountant keeps the domestic file

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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