Canadian with a US brokerage account — how much of this can I do myself?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: the foreign-status certificate held by the broker sets the withholding rate; the Canadian return picks up the income with a credit.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
Why does my US broker withhold tax on my dividends?
Because dividends paid by US companies are US-source income, and the payer must withhold from them when the recipient is not a US person. The rate applied is set by the foreign-status certificate the broker holds for your account: certified as a Canadian resident, the treaty rate applies; with nothing valid on file, the payer has to use the statutory rate instead. So the first thing to check when the withholding looks wrong is not the broker's arithmetic but the status and expiry of the certificate it is holding.
Do I report US brokerage income in Canada if tax was already withheld?
Yes. As a Canadian resident you are taxed on worldwide income, so dividends, interest and realised gains in a US account go on your Canadian return whether or not anything was withheld at source. The withholding is not a final settlement; it is a payment against which you claim a foreign tax credit, subject to the usual limits. The mismatch to watch is currency and timing. The Canadian figures are computed in Canadian dollars at the relevant dates, not lifted from the broker's summary as printed.
What happens to my US shares when I die as a Canadian resident?
They are US-situs property. US estate tax attaches to assets by reference to where they are located rather than where their owner lived, so shares in US corporations can sit within the US estate tax net even for someone who has never been resident there and holds them through a foreign broker. Whether anything is payable depends on the size of the estate and the relief the treaty provides. The point is that the exposure exists at all, and it is rarely mentioned when the account is opened.
My broker wants me to re-certify my foreign status — why?
The certificate a payer holds to establish that you are not a US person does not last indefinitely, and it lapses on a change of circumstances as well: a new address, a change in the account's ownership, a name that no longer matches. When it lapses the broker must default to the statutory withholding rate rather than the treaty rate, which is usually what prompts the client's call. Re-certify when asked. Recovering over-withheld tax afterwards is done through a US return and takes far longer than the paperwork would.
Does holding US stocks in a Canadian account avoid US estate tax?
Not by itself. The exposure follows the asset, not the account or the country the broker sits in, so shares in US corporations held through a Canadian institution are still US-situs property. Where the holding is structured differently — through certain pooled vehicles, or corporately — the analysis can change, but that is a question about what you actually own rather than about where the statement is posted from. Anyone told that moving the account solves the problem should ask which asset changed.
Can I claim the US withholding against my Canadian tax?
Generally yes, as a foreign tax credit on the same income in the same year. Two things limit it. The credit is capped by the Canadian tax otherwise payable on that foreign income, so tax withheld above the treaty rate — the usual consequence of a lapsed status certificate — often cannot be recovered here at all and has to be claimed from the IRS instead. And the income has to be matched correctly between the two systems before the credit is computed, which is where broker summaries and Canadian reporting diverge.
Do I pay US tax on an inheritance from abroad?
A bequest is not income, so the receipt itself is not taxed. Reporting is a different matter: a US person who receives large gifts or bequests from a foreign person or estate files an information return for the year, and inheriting a foreign account or an interest in a foreign trust brings the account and asset reports with it. The penalties here attach to the information return, not to tax — which is why people who owed nothing still get letters. See Form 3520.
Do US citizens abroad have to report foreign bank accounts?
Yes, and under two separate regimes with different thresholds and different filing homes — one report to FinCEN covering foreign financial accounts, and one to the IRS with the return covering a broader class of foreign assets. Both are keyed to balances rather than income, so an account earning nothing can still require reporting, and each carries penalties of its own. See filing both.
