FAPI inclusion estimator
Estimate the Canadian inclusion from a foreign affiliate passive income.
Open itForeign property reporting in Canada turns on cost amount, not market value, and there are two reporting methods above the filing threshold. Enter your figure and this names the method and the detail it demands.
Your specified foreign property
C$
What you paid, in Canadian dollars at the time of acquisition. Not the current market value.
C$
More than one hundred thousand dollars of cost amount brings the form into play.
C$
At or above this figure the simplified method is no longer available.
Reporting method
—
Cost amount tested —
A form is required —
Filing threshold—
Detailed method threshold—
Headroom below the filing threshold—
Amount over the filing threshold—
Headroom before the detailed method—
Cost amount, tested at any time in the year
Two features of the threshold catch people. It is cost amount, not market value: a portfolio bought for 90,000 dollars and now worth 400,000 is under the threshold, and one bought for 120,000 and now worth 60,000 is over it. And it is tested at any time during the year, so a holding sold in March counts even though it does not appear on any year-end statement.
What counts as specified foreign property is also wider than most people expect. Foreign bank accounts, shares of non-resident corporations even if held through a Canadian broker, debts owed by non-residents, interests in non-resident trusts and foreign real estate held for investment are all in. Personal-use foreign real estate and property used in an active business are out, as is property inside a registered plan.
What the two methods actually ask for
The simplified method is available where the cost amount was over the filing threshold but below the detailed threshold throughout the year. It asks you to tick the categories of property held, name the countries, and report the income and the gains in total. It is a page.
The detailed method asks for each property individually: a description, the country, the maximum cost during the year, the cost at year end, the income from it and the gain or loss on any disposition. That is a different order of record-keeping, and the practical lesson is that a portfolio approaching the detailed threshold needs the underlying data collected during the year rather than reconstructed after it.
Worked example
A Canadian resident holds an Indian bank deposit and a portfolio of foreign shares with a combined cost amount of 180,000 Canadian dollars, peaking there in September.
- 180,000 is over the filing threshold, so the form is required for the year.
- It is below the detailed threshold, so the simplified method is available: categories, countries, and income and gains in total.
- Headroom before the detailed method is 70,000, which one more purchase could easily consume.
Note that market value never entered the calculation. A portfolio that has doubled in value has not moved a single dollar closer to the detailed method.
What this calculator assumes
- Both thresholds are the current ones and are cited below. Both are editable.
- Cost amount means the Canadian-dollar cost, generally translated at the rate when the property was acquired. This tool takes the figure you enter.
- What counts as specified foreign property is not decided here. Personal-use real estate, property used in an active business and property inside a registered plan are outside the regime.
- Penalties for a late or incomplete form are substantial and are charged per day. Being under the threshold is the only safe reason not to file.
An estimate, not advice. This is an estimate built from what you typed, not advice on your file. Nothing here reads your documents, checks your treaty article or looks at the year you are actually in. Where the number matters, we agree a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
Where these figures come from
- current guidance Foreign income verification statement — CRA
- current guidance Questions and answers about Form T1135 — CRA
- current form Form T1135 — CRA forms
Any figure prefilled in the panel above is stated with the year it belongs to and can be changed. Rates and thresholds move; a calculator that asks you for the current one stays right, and one that hides a guess does not.
Cross-border tax case studies
Case study 1
Simplified T1135 reporting confirmed available for a client with modest foreign holdings
A client with a small number of straightforward foreign accounts wanted to know whether the simplified reporting method was available to them rather than the detailed method. We reviewed the client's holdings against the simplified method's conditions, confirmed it applied, and reduced the client's ongoing filing burden accordingly.
Case study 2
Detailed reporting required after a client's foreign holdings grew past the simplified threshold
A client who had used the simplified T1135 method in prior years saw their foreign holdings grow during the year, and needed to check whether the simplified method still applied. We reviewed the current year's holdings against the threshold, confirmed detailed reporting was now required, and prepared the filing under the correct, more detailed method.
Case study 3
Choice between simplified and detailed reporting clarified for a client near the threshold
A client's foreign holdings sat close to the line between the two reporting methods, and they were unsure which applied for the current year. We reviewed the exact holdings against the threshold conditions, confirmed which method applied, and prepared the filing on the correct basis rather than the client's own assumption.
Case study 4
Catching Up From Inside the United States
The domestic route suits a filer who was resident in the US through the missed years, and it differs from the offshore one in what it asks for and what it costs. Choosing between them before anything is filed is the whole engagement.
Read how this one runs
Case study 5
Treaty Relief Claimed on a Cross-Border Estate
The estate article can extend a proportionate credit where the two systems would otherwise both tax the same asset. Claiming it requires a valuation and a disclosure the estate may not expect to make.
Read how this one runs
Case study 6
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 7
Residency Changed Mid-Year and Both Returns Assumed a Full One
A move part-way through a year produces two part-year positions, not two full ones. The engagement establishes the date residence actually changed, allocates income either side of it, and amends whichever return was filed on the wrong footing.
Read how this one runs
Case study 8
A US LLC Owned by a Canadian, Taxed Twice by Design
The two countries classify an LLC differently, so the credit relief that ought to apply frequently does not. The engagement looks at whether the structure can be changed, and where it cannot, at how to make the credit work.
Read how this one runsAll 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.
Tax Treaties & Withholding
Relief is only as good as the paperwork claiming it — we build treaty positions that survive review on both sides.
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.
Global Investments & Reporting
Information returns carry the sharpest penalties — $25 a day whether or not any tax is owing. We keep them clean and on time.
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
Who We Serve:
Technology & SaaS
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Who We Serve:
Professional Services Firms
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
Who We Serve:
Cross-Border Real Estate
Foreign property income and sales are taxed in both countries by default; Section 216, FIRPTA and treaty credits are the standing toolkit.
Property is taxed where it sits, which is the one rule no treaty overrides. What the treaty does decide is the credit, the rate on the rent and what happens on the sale — and the clearance certificate on a disposition is applied for before closing, not after the buyer has already held the money back.
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
Who We Serve:
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
Who We Serve:
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
Who We Serve:
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
Who We Serve:
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
Who We Serve:
