Canadian working in the US — taxes on a TN, H-1B or L-1: do I need an adviser, or can I do it alone?
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 federal treaty allocates employment income and gives the credit that prevents double tax; states set their own residency and sourcing rules and are not bound by it.
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.
Do I pay tax in both Canada and the US on the same salary?
Usually yes, in the same year. Being taxable in two countries is the normal starting position for a Canadian on a US work visa, and it is not by itself a mistake. The treaty then allocates the employment income between the two countries and gives the credit that stops the same dollars being taxed twice. What it does not do is decide the order in which the two returns are prepared, and that ordering is what determines whether the credit actually lands where it is useful. Prepared in the wrong sequence, you can end up claiming relief in the country that was entitled to tax the income first.
Does the Canada US tax treaty cover my state income tax?
No. The treaty is an agreement between two federal governments, and a state is not bound by it. States set their own residency tests and their own rules about which income is sourced to them, so it is entirely possible to hold a defensible federal treaty position and still be treated as a full-year resident by a state. This is the most common surprise in a first US year, and it is rarely picked up by whoever prepared the federal return. The state analysis has to be done separately, on the state's own tests, and the result may not match the federal one.
I am on a TN visa, am I still a Canadian tax resident?
The visa category does not decide it. TN, H-1B and L-1 describe your right to work in the US; none of them says anything about where you are resident for tax. Canadian residence turns on your ties, so a person who keeps a home, a spouse or dependants here can hold any of those visas and remain resident in Canada. Where both countries treat you as resident for the same period, the treaty has a tie-breaker to settle it, but it only operates once both claims genuinely exist. The practical work is evidencing the ties, not producing the visa.
Why is social security being deducted from my pay in both countries?
Because social security is not dealt with by the tax treaty at all. It sits under a separate totalization agreement, which assigns a worker to one system rather than both, and that assignment has to be claimed. It does not happen simply because your situation obviously qualifies. Until the documentation from the system you are staying in reaches the payroll that should stop deducting, both will keep deducting. Contributions paid into the wrong system are recoverable, but the process is slower and more document-heavy than getting the assignment in place before the first pay run.
How should I compare a US relocation package to my Canadian salary?
After tax, and before you accept it. A package agreed on gross figures ignores that the two countries tax its components differently and on different timing, that the state may take a share the treaty cannot relieve, and that social security may be payable to a system you had not budgeted for. The comparison that matters is what reaches your account in each scenario across a full year, including the year of the move itself, which is usually the awkward one. Ask for the components in writing and model them before signing, rather than discovering the shape of it at filing time.
My US employer uses an employer of record, am I covered?
Covered for remittance, not for position. An employer-of-record runs payroll on assumptions it has made about your residence and your state, and those assumptions are rarely tested against the treaty or against your Canadian filing. The provider is not preparing your personal returns and is not looking at the Canadian side at all. The work worth doing is checking the basis the withholding is being taken on, reconciling it against the allocation the treaty actually supports, and making sure the Canadian and US returns are built on one set of facts instead of two.
Does the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion apply to self-employment tax?
No — it does not reduce self-employment tax at all. The exclusion removes income from income tax only, so a US self-employed person abroad can exclude the profit for income-tax purposes and still owe self-employment tax on it. What can relieve that is a totalization agreement with the country where you actually work, which assigns you to one social-security system instead of both. See totalization agreements.
How do I file US taxes when I am married to a foreign spouse?
Three routes. File separately, listing your spouse as a non-resident alien — which needs either an identification number for them or the accepted notation where none exists. Elect to treat them as a resident and file jointly, gaining the joint brackets and accepting their worldwide income. Or file as head of household if you have a qualifying dependant, which some Americans abroad can do while married. The right answer turns on their income and their assets. See a US person with a non-resident spouse.
