Affordable Form RC268 — US plan contributions (cross-border)

Form RC268 — who files it, when it is due, what late filing costs, and what we charge to prepare it. Canada (CRA). Affordable RC268 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 cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served
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  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE

Secure a fixed quote

First we read your documents, then you get the price in writing, and only then does the work begin.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • 24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
In 60 words

Form RC268 is a relief or credit claim: Deducts contributions to a US retirement plan by a Canadian resident who is not a daily commuter. Canadian residents working in the United States on assignment or part of the year who contributed to a US plan.

Who has to deal with this

Canadian residents working in the United States on assignment or part of the year who contributed to a US plan.

Start with the mechanism, not the form. The deduction is treaty-based and interacts with Canadian registered-plan room, so claiming it correctly protects both this year's deduction and next year's contribution space.

The team at work in the open-plan office

Transparent, fixed pricing for rc268 US plan contributions cross-border

This cross-border deduction is priced on the shape of the assignment rather than its size. A single posting with one US plan and one statement is short work; an assignment spanning two tax years, or two employers and two plans, means tracing contributions across both and matching them to the period actually worked abroad.

Dual filing — 1040 + T1 together — fixed-fee price

From $449

fixed, quoted before work starts

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.
See the full fee page

US return from abroad (1040 + 2555/1116) — fixed-fee price

From $449

fixed, quoted before work starts

The US individual return prepared from abroad, with the exclusion and the foreign tax credit computed together rather than one or the other, plus the account and asset reports that travel with it.
See the full fee page

Individual tax filing

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Personal returns for individuals, expats and non-residents — foreign income, foreign property and treaty relief handled in one engagement.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

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

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

For anyone taxed by a country they do not live in — rent, pensions and investment income reaching across a border after the move.
See the fee schedule

Corporate cross-border filing

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Returns for companies with foreign subsidiaries, foreign income or foreign shareholders, and the schedules each of those triggers.
See the fee schedule

Catch-up & voluntary disclosure

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Late and unfiled years, sequenced and filed together, with the relief available for the delay identified before the first return goes in.
See the fee schedule

Payroll & mobility setup

From $999

fixed, 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

All published fees on one page — one page, every published fee, nothing quoted as a vague bracket.

What the reporting test actually looks at

What decides whether Form RC268 applies
What has to be establishedEvidence we work from
The obligationDeducts contributions to a US retirement plan by a Canadian resident who is not a daily commuter.
Who it bindsCanadian residents working in the United States on assignment or part of the year who contributed to a US plan.
Jurisdiction and authorityCanada — CRA
Category of filingRelief or credit claim

When it is due

A claim generally has to be made on a return filed for the year in question, which makes the return deadline the claim deadline. Some claims can be made on an amended return within the reassessment window; others are lost if not made on the original filing, so the two are worth distinguishing before a late filing. In practice the binding constraint is usually a document that has to arrive from somewhere else, which is why the timetable is mapped backwards from the deadline.

What late or missed filing costs

Missing a claim usually costs the relief rather than a penalty — which is why it goes unnoticed. The money is real: an unclaimed credit or exclusion is tax paid twice on the same income, and depending on the claim it may or may not be recoverable by amending later. None of that is unusual, and none of it is unfixable. It is, however, cheaper to address before an authority raises it.

The numbers, end to end

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

Credit relief on one stream of income

Take C$167,000 of income taxed in both countries. Assume the other country charged 24% on it and the home country would charge 34% on the same amount.

Credit relief on one stream of income
ItemAmount
Income taxed in both countriesC$167,000
Tax paid abroad (assumed 24%)C$40,080
Home tax on the same income (assumed 34%)C$56,780
Credit available (lesser of the two)C$40,080
Home tax still payableC$16,700

The credit absorbs C$40,080 and leaves C$16,700 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. The interesting question is where your own figures fall relative to that, which is a computation rather than an opinion.

Illustrative figures, not a client engagement: the amounts are chosen to make the mechanism legible, and the rates and thresholds are assumptions stated for the example only. We confirm every one of them against the issuing authority for your own tax year before anything is filed.

How we prepare and file it, and what it costs

The fee for Form RC268 is fixed against a written scope and agreed before we start. It is not billed by the hour and it does not move after the fact. See the inheriting property in India for comparable engagements.

The four steps

  1. 1Confirm eligibility against the specific test the claim depends on
  2. 2Compute the claim on the correct basis and in the correct currency
  3. 3File the claim with the return, with the supporting schedules attached
  4. 4Carry forward anything unused and track it for future years
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google, on a profile open for you to read.
  • Fixed fees agreed before any work starts, so the number in the quote is the number on the invoice.
  • Nothing is filed until you have read it.

The quote comes before the work, in writing.

Checked and signed off for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. General information, not advice for your circumstances — call our 24-hour helpline to discuss your own position.

Canada US tax treaty CRA, in practice

Read this page for Canada US tax treaty CRA. It works through RC268 from the beginning — whether it applies to you at all, what has to be filed if it does, and what the engagement costs, priced up front.

The deduction is treaty-based and interacts with Canadian registered-plan room, so claiming it correctly protects both this year's deduction and next year's contribution space.

From first contact to filed return

  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 rc268 US plan contributions cross-border

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

FDAP income
Fixed, determinable, annual or periodical US-source income — dividends, interest, rents, royalties — taxed on a gross basis by withholding at source.
Preparatory or auxiliary
The carve-out that keeps genuinely supporting activity from creating a permanent establishment. It is narrow, and it is tested on what is actually done.
Qualified domestic minimum top-up tax
A local top-up charge that keeps the global minimum tax revenue in the jurisdiction where the low-taxed profit arose.
US estate tax
A tax on the value of US-situs assets at death, reaching non-residents who never lived in the United States, with a much smaller exemption than a US person receives.
rc268 US plan contributions cross-border: Our analysis

The deduction is treaty-based and interacts with Canadian registered-plan room, so claiming it correctly protects both this year's deduction and next year's contribution space.

The engagement terms hold no matter what the analysis finds — fee and scope agreed in writing up front, a named reviewer on the output, your approval before the finished work is filed.

Rc268 US plan contributions cross-border — what the published fees look like

There is a second reason to get it right, and it affects the scope. The claim interacts with your Canadian registered-plan room, so a year claimed carelessly costs contribution space in the year after. Where earlier years need reviewing alongside the current one, that is scoped and quoted before any work begins.

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

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

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.

Residence is tested, not assumed

Where you are resident for treaty purposes is a question with a method. We work through it and write down the answer, with the facts it rests on.

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.

The order of filing is planned, not improvised

Which return goes first decides whether relief can be claimed at all. That sequence is worked out before anything is submitted.

Two of the firm’s advisers at the glass desk in the Delhi office

Rc268 US plan contributions cross-border — the four phases

Step 1

The opening call

We establish what happened and when, because every position here is anchored to a date

Step 2

Scope in writing

A written scope and a fixed price, so you know the cost before committing

Step 3

Prepared and checked

The filings are prepared, cross-checked against each other, and reviewed by name

Step 4

Filed, then supported

You see the result, approve it, and we file it

Two of the firm’s advisers at a desk in the Delhi office

A fixed quote first, in writing

  • 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

Keep reading, sideways

Each of these carries its own guide, pricing pointers and FAQ.

The work we do for clients like this

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Intercompany agreements Its own page: intercompany agreements — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Form 1040-NR — non-resident alien return Everything on 1040 non resident, at the same depth as this page.
Safe harbour rules for Indian TP Safe harbour rules for Indian tp — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Form 8993 — FDII deduction The full guide to form 8993 FDII deduction, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Employer of record — the tax risk Its own page: employer of record tax risk — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
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Who we bring this work to

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Tax for physicians & surgeons Its own page: physicians & surgeons tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Airline pilots — your filing calendar Everything on airline pilots your filing calendar, at the same depth as this page.

Countries and corridors this work reaches

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Sri Lanka tax for expats — country guide Sri Lanka tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
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Portugal tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Portugal tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
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Estonia tax for expats — country guide Estonia tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Turkey tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Turkey tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
US–UAE tax corridor Its own page: US UAE tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Canada–Saudi Arabia tax corridor Everything on Canada Saudi Arabia tax, at the same depth as this page.

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

Cross-border situations we are engaged for

Case study 1

A Second Opinion on a Return Already Filed

A cross-border return prepared on one side only is usually right in isolation and wrong in combination. The review checks residence, source and relief in that order, and says plainly whether an amendment is worth making.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

Accounts Reported Late When the Income Already Was

Where the income was on the return and only the account report was missed, a narrow route allows late filing with a reason attached. It is open only while no income is unreported and no examination has begun, which is why it is checked first.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

Paid for Work Done in Canada While Living Elsewhere

Employment carried out in Canada is taxable here even where the employer and the bank account are not. The engagement establishes how many of the days were worked in Canada, applies the treaty employment article, and deals with the withholding the payer has already taken.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

One Employee in a State Nobody Had Registered In

A single person working from home can create payroll registration, withholding and sometimes an income tax filing for the company in that state. The review measures activity against each state's own threshold.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

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 6

Never Filed a US Return — and Only Just Found Out

Born in the United States, left as an infant, and told by a bank that the returns were owed all along. The work is sequencing: establish which years are actually open, choose the catch-up route on the facts rather than filing quietly, and claim the exclusions and credits that were never taken.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

A Family Trust Abroad With Reporting on Both Sides

A trust settled in one country and a beneficiary living in another produces reporting for the trust, the settlor and the beneficiary, on different forms and different dates. The engagement maps who files what before anything is prepared.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

First Canadian Return After Arriving Mid-Year

The arrival date splits the year and sets the cost base of what you brought with you. Getting that date and those values right is what determines whether a later sale is taxed on the whole gain or only on the part that accrued after landing.

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

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

Performance income is taxed where earned — Regulation 105 in Canada, withholding agreements in the U.S. — with special treaty articles overriding the usual rules.

Performance income is taxed where the performance happens, and the deduction is usually taken at source on the gross fee before expenses. Recovering the difference is a filing exercise in the other country, and it only works if the tour, the residency and the withholding certificates were documented while the work was being done.

  • 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

Form RC268 — questions we are asked

Do I file Form RC268 even if no tax is owed?

Relief or credit claim obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. Canadian residents working in the United States on assignment or part of the year who contributed to a US plan.

What happens if I have missed Form RC268 for several years?

Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.

Is Form RC268 the same as the other reports I already file?

No. Deducts contributions to a US retirement plan by a Canadian resident who is not a daily commuter. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.

Is double taxation illegal?

It is legal. Two countries can each have a valid claim on the same income — one because the income arose there, the other because you live there — and nothing prohibits both from exercising it. What exists instead is relief: tax treaties allocate the claim, and domestic law gives a credit for foreign tax paid. The relief is not automatic, though. It is claimed on a return, and unclaimed relief is simply lost. See how double taxation is relieved.

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 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.

15+ years of cross-border experience

Form RC268, quoted before we start

We scope it on a call, quote it in writing, and you see the result before anything is filed.

  • A named reviewer signs off every filing
  • Your existing accountant keeps the domestic file
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google

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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