Affordable Cross-border tax for architects

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Cross-border tax filing for architects, planned and filed from one desk, at a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Ask us about affordable cross-border tax for architects: call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written fixed quote today.

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  • 15+Years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served
  • 5.0Google rating
  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE
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Secure a fixed quote

Send what you have. We price the engagement from your own documents, in writing, before any work starts.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+ clients served
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
In short

Design work performed remotely and construction supervision performed on site are treated differently: the second is far more likely to create a taxable presence for the practice in the project's country.

Further down: the governing rule, the first-call questions, two completed files with figures, the way the work runs, and where the fee is published.

The rule that applies to this group and not the one next to it

Design work performed remotely and construction supervision performed on site are treated differently: the second is far more likely to create a taxable presence for the practice in the project's country.

Here is the part that decides your answer. The difference between the two outcomes is a provision most people in this position have never heard of — and once it is identified, the rest of the file is straightforward.

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

What architects tax costs here

For architects the fee turns on where the work is performed, not where the drawings end up: a design-only practice is a narrower file than one that also sends someone to site to supervise, because supervision raises a taxable presence question in the project's country. The number of project countries moves it too, and the quote is written first.

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

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

Transfer pricing documentation

From $2,500

fixed, quoted before work starts

Intercompany pricing documented before it is questioned — the functional analysis, the benchmarking and the files that support it.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Disclosure of assets and interests held abroad, built once from a single asset list and filed on every side that asks for it.
See the fee schedule

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Arrival and departure years priced as one engagement, with the part-year residence position and the assets deemed disposed of on exit.
See the fee schedule

Payroll & mobility setup

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

What an employer owes when an employee works in another country: the registrations, the withholding and the reporting that follow.
See the fee schedule

Catch-up & voluntary disclosure

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Bringing an unfiled history current: which years are still open, which programme applies, and what the exposure is before you commit.
See the fee schedule

Estate & trust filing

From $799

fixed, quoted before work starts

The returns an estate or trust owes on each side, prepared together so relief for tax paid abroad is actually claimed.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — each engagement priced as one number on one list, with nothing left as a range.

Three things we hear on the first call

  • My practice designs from home and supervises abroad.
  • The project country withholds on our fees and we cannot recover it.
  • My personal residency changed mid-project and the fee split was never revisited.

These are not edge cases. They are what happens when two systems each apply their own logic to one person, and the person is expected to reconcile the result. See also Saudi Arabia tax for expats — country guide.

What this looks like with numbers

The arithmetic is more persuasive than the description, so:

Equity that vests after the move

A grant worth C$64,000 at vest, over a 41-month vesting period, 17 months of which were worked in the first country and 24 in the second.

ItemAmount
Value at vestC$64,000
Vesting period (months)41
Months worked in the first country17
Months worked in the second country24
Apportioned to the first countryC$26,537
Apportioned to the second countryC$37,463

Two countries tax slices of one gain: C$26,537 and C$37,463 on this apportionment. Where their taxing points differ — grant, vest, exercise or sale — the credit can arrive in a year the other country is no longer taxing, which is the mismatch to plan around. That is an illustration of the mechanism, not a prediction about your file — the same computation on your figures is the first thing we do.

These amounts illustrate the mechanism only. The rates and thresholds are assumptions of the example, not your numbers: each is checked against the issuing authority for your specific tax year before any return is filed.

The arithmetic, worked through

The arithmetic is more persuasive than the description, so:

Credit relief on one stream of income

Take C$70,000 of income taxed in both countries. Assume the other country charged 22% on it and the home country would charge 32% on the same amount.

ItemAmount
Income taxed in both countriesC$70,000
Tax paid abroad (assumed 22%)C$15,400
Home tax on the same income (assumed 32%)C$22,400
Credit available (lesser of the two)C$15,400
Home tax still payableC$7,000

The credit absorbs C$15,400 and leaves C$7,000 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.

An illustration, not a client file. The sums are chosen for legibility and the thresholds are stated for the example alone — nothing reaches a filing until it has been confirmed at source for your own year.

From first call to filed

  1. 1A call to the 24-hour helpline to find out whether this is a filing or a project
  2. 2A fixed fee for a written scope — re-quoted if the scope changes, never invoiced silently
  3. 3Preparation against the evidence, with the positions documented as we go
  4. 4Your approval, then the filing — in that order
  • Consultations scheduled to your working day rather than ours.
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google, on a profile open for you to read.
  • We will tell you when you do not need us, and that call is free.

How to get this moving

We will tell you if you do not need us. That happens more often than you would expect.

Reviewed for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Published as general information. For a position on your own file, call the 24-hour helpline.

International tax accountant, in practice

If you came here for international tax accountant, this is where it is dealt with. The subject is cross-border tax for architects, and the page covers who it reaches, what then has to be filed, and what we charge to do the work.

The four phases of the work

  1. Share your documents

    A secure upload link arrives after the first call — send files in any state.

  2. A written fixed fee

    The quote is fixed from what you send; it does not move once accepted.

  3. Preparation, both sides at once

    The returns are drafted together, reconciled line against line.

  4. Approve, then file

    Nothing is filed until you have seen it and approved it.

What you are actually buying with architects tax

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

Four terms worth pinning down

Self-custody
Holding crypto without an intermediary, which is treated differently from a custodial holding under several reporting regimes.
Branch
A foreign operation that is the same legal person as the head office, so its results consolidate — at the cost of exposing the parent to the foreign system.
FC-TRS
The Indian reporting of a share transfer between a resident and a non-resident, on the same short clock as an issue.
FAPI
Foreign accrual property income — passive income of a controlled foreign affiliate, attributed to the Canadian shareholder before any distribution.

The published fees closest to architects tax

Two other things show up in an architects' quote: fee withholding taken by the project country, which has to be traced invoice by invoice before it can be recovered, and a change in the principal's own residency partway through a job, which means the fee split across the project has to be reworked rather than carried forward.

Corporate cross-border filing

$999fixed, before work starts

Covers: Corporate returns with foreign income, related-party reporting and cross-border structures, for companies of any size.

See this fee page

Individual tax filing

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: A personal filing built from your own documents — employment, investment and rental income across borders, with the treaty position set out.

See this fee page

Transfer pricing documentation

$2,500fixed, before work starts

Covers: Intercompany pricing documented before it is questioned — the functional analysis, the benchmarking and the files that support it.

See this fee page

What working with us on architects tax looks like

A named reviewer on every file

Every page on this site and every file we deliver says which practitioner reviewed it — a person, not a team inbox.

The reporting penalties get named early

The heaviest exposure on a cross-border file is usually a disclosure form, not the tax. We identify which ones apply before a deadline turns into a penalty.

The fee is fixed before we start

Quoted from your documents and agreed in writing. The number you accept is the number you pay.

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.

Two of the firm’s advisers and the team in the open-plan office

How the engagement runs, phase by phase

Step 1

Establishing the facts

A first call to map the obligations across every country involved

Step 2

Agreeing the fee

A single fixed fee covering the whole set, agreed before we begin

Step 3

Drafting and review

Preparation in the order that makes the relief usable, with a reviewer's sign-off

Step 4

Filing and follow-up

You approve the finished work, and we file it

The team at work in the open-plan office

How the work runs — quote first, then the work

  • Step 1: Send the documents as they are – No tidying required — forward what you have and we tell you what is missing.
  • Step 2: Get a fixed quote in writing – Priced from your actual documents before any work begins, not estimated after.
  • Step 3: Both countries prepared together – One team builds the filings against each other so the relief lands exactly once.
  • Step 4: Review, then file – You approve the finished work before we file it.

Quoted up front, in writing.

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

More of the same work, from other angles

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

Services these clients use most

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Form 1120 — US corporation return and treaty claims Its own page: can you use tax treaty 1120 — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
US–India treaty explained Everything on US India tax treaty explained, at the same depth as this page.
Form W-9 — US persons Form w-9 US persons — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Deemed resident vs factual resident The full guide to deemed resident vs factual resident, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Form 3CEAD — CbCR filing (India) Its own page: form 3cead India — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
FEMA compliance for NRIs Everything on fema compliance for NRIs, at the same depth as this page.

Who we help

Software developers — what you owe in each country Everything on software developers what you owe in each country, at the same depth as this page.
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Oil & gas rotational workers — relief you're probably missing Its own page: oil & gas rotational workers relief you're probably missing — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Tax for physiotherapists & allied health Everything on physiotherapists & allied health tax, at the same depth as this page.
Tax for airline pilots Airline pilots tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Tax for pharmacists The full guide to pharmacists tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Tax for product & project managers Its own page: product & project managers tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Tax for postdocs & researchers Everything on postdocs & researchers tax, at the same depth as this page.

Countries and corridors this work reaches

Morocco tax for expats — country guide Everything on morocco tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Brazil tax for expats — country guide Brazil tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Algeria tax for expats — country guide The full guide to algeria tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Singapore tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Singapore tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
India tax for expats — country guide Everything on India tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Peru tax for expats — country guide Peru tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
US–United Kingdom tax corridor The full guide to US United Kingdom tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Switzerland tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Switzerland tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Turkey tax for expats — country guide Everything on Turkey tax for expats, 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

What these engagements turn on

Case study 1

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 2

Social Security Paid Twice Until a Certificate Arrived

Income tax relief does not reach a social security charge; only an agreement does, and only against a certificate from the system actually being paid into. Obtaining it is the work, and it is often retrospective.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

Putting a Foreign Hire on a Canadian Payroll

The obligation sits on the payer, and the payer is liable for what it failed to withhold. Registration, the residence question and any treaty exemption are settled before the first pay run rather than after.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

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 5

The Year of Leaving India

The departure year carries a transition status with its own treatment of foreign income, and the position for the following years follows from how it is set. Getting the first year right saves arguing about the rest.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

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 7

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 8

Inheriting Property in India While Living Abroad

India does not tax the inheritance itself, but the later sale and the money leaving the country both have positions of their own. The file establishes the cost base to use on that sale and what the remittance will require.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

How and where the work is delivered

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

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

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Holding structures live or die on treaty access, beneficial ownership and substance — the MLI's principal-purpose test now sits over every arrangement.

A holding structure is only as good as its reporting. Foreign affiliates, accrued passive income and distributions each carry their own return, and the penalties on those attach to the form rather than to any tax being owed — so a structure that saves tax can still cost money if the information returns are late.

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

Tax for architects — questions we are asked

What makes architects different from an ordinary filing?

Design work performed remotely and construction supervision performed on site are treated differently: the second is far more likely to create a taxable presence for the practice in the project's country. An ordinary preparer applies the general rule and stops there, which is how the relief in the specific provision goes unclaimed.

Can you work with my existing accountant?

That is how most of these engagements run. They keep the domestic file, we take the cross-border piece, and the boundary is agreed in writing so nothing is done twice or missed.

Is moving money between my own accounts in two countries taxable?

Moving your own capital between your own accounts is not itself income, so the transfer is not what creates tax. What can create tax or reporting is the income the money earned before it moved, a foreign-exchange gain on certain holdings, and the reporting obligations the balances themselves trigger — foreign account and asset reports keyed to balances rather than income. Remittances out of some countries also need certification before the bank will send them. See foreign account reporting.

Do I get credit for all of the foreign tax I paid?

Only up to your own country's tax on that same income, and only for tax you were legally obliged to pay. Two consequences follow. Living somewhere that taxes you more heavily than your residence country does leaves an excess that becomes a carryover rather than a refund. And withholding suffered above the treaty rate is not creditable — the route back to that money is a refund claim in the country that took it. See claiming the credit.

How far back can you go?

As far as the records allow. Whether a year can still be corrected, and whether a refund is still claimable in it, are two different questions and we answer both before proposing anything.

What happens after the filing?

You get the filed copies and a note of anything due next year, with the dates. Where an authority responds, that correspondence comes to us if the authorisation is in place.

Tax terms explained

Section 216Certificate of residencyGAARNR7-RDeemed residentFactual residentVirtual digital assetRestricted share unitDeemed dispositionForm 3CEBNon-resident alienAdvance rulingEngagement letterCFC Browse the full A–Z glossary

Related pages

More in this section

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Where this leads next

Stock options across bordersShort-term business visitorsTunisia tax for expats — country guideUruguay tax for expats — country guideCayman Islands tax for expats — country guideJordan tax for expats — country guide

Common questions here

How are architects taxed across borders?
Fixed fee agreed before we start

Talk to us about architects filing

Describe what happened and which countries are involved; the fee comes back in writing before anything begins.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068 See fixed fees
  • 18,000+ clients served
  • A named reviewer signs off every filing
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE

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.

Request a Quote +1 (416) 619-0068