Economical IT contractors: relief you're probably missing

We prepare and file the cross-border returns it contractors need — both countries handled together, on a fixed fee agreed in writing up front. Ask us about economical IT contractors: relief you're probably missing: call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written fixed quote today.

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

Secure a fixed quote

Start by sending whatever paperwork exists — a written fixed quote comes back before any work begins.

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

An independent IT contractor abroad is running a business, which raises the permanent-establishment question about the contractor's own company and, in some systems, the personal-services-business rules that deny it ordinary treatment.

On this page: the rule that applies here, the questions we are asked first, two finished files with their numbers, how an engagement runs, and the fee it starts from.

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

An independent IT contractor abroad is running a business, which raises the permanent-establishment question about the contractor's own company and, in some systems, the personal-services-business rules that deny it ordinary treatment.

Everything else on this page follows from this. An ordinary preparer will get the general position right and miss the specific one, because the specific one is not on the form. It has to be known about, claimed, and supported.

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

It contractors relief you're probably missing — priced before we start

Recovering the relief an IT contractor is missing is priced by how many claims it takes: a residence certificate for one withholding client is narrow work, whereas treaty claims across several payers, plus foreign tax credits reopened for earlier years, is a wider file. The fee is fixed in writing before any of it starts.

Individual tax filing

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

One engagement for a personal return that touches more than one country: the income, the assets held abroad and the relief claimed against them.
See the fee schedule

Corporate cross-border filing

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Corporate returns with foreign income, related-party reporting and cross-border structures, for companies of any size.
See the fee schedule

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

The filings that follow a move: the departure year, the arrival year, and the income that keeps arriving from the country behind you.
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

Transfer pricing documentation

From $2,500

fixed, quoted before work starts

Local file, master file and benchmarking for groups trading across borders, documented to the standard the authority expects.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Accounts, property and company interests held outside the country of residence, reported on the schedules that carry penalties whether or not tax is owed.
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

Cross-border estates and trusts, from the reporting on the assets to the returns the beneficiaries then have to file.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — all of it on a single page, so the number you compare is the number you pay.

Three things we hear on the first call

  • My clients are in one country, I live in another, and I invoice through a company in a third.
  • One client insists on withholding tax I should not be paying.
  • My own corporation may be a personal services business, which nobody warned me about.

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 deemed resident vs factual resident.

The numbers, end to end

It is easier to see with numbers attached.

Equity that vests after the move

A grant worth C$144,000 at vest, over a 48-month vesting period, 17 months of which were worked in the first country and 31 in the second.

Equity that vests after the move
ItemAmount
Value at vestC$144,000
Vesting period (months)48
Months worked in the first country17
Months worked in the second country31
Apportioned to the first countryC$51,000
Apportioned to the second countryC$93,000

Two countries tax slices of one gain: C$51,000 and C$93,000 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. Change any one of those inputs and the answer moves, which is why we run it on your own figures rather than on an illustration.

The figures here are an illustration, not an engagement: amounts are picked so the mechanism is easy to follow, and every rate or threshold is an assumption of the example. Before anything is filed for you, each one is confirmed with the issuing authority for your own tax year.

Worked through with figures

Numbers make this concrete, so here is the same rule applied to a set of figures.

Credit relief on one stream of income

Take C$82,000 of income taxed in both countries. Assume the other country charged 32% on it and the home country would charge 33% on the same amount.

Credit relief on one stream of income
ItemAmount
Income taxed in both countriesC$82,000
Tax paid abroad (assumed 32%)C$26,240
Home tax on the same income (assumed 33%)C$27,060
Credit available (lesser of the two)C$26,240
Home tax still payableC$820

The credit absorbs C$26,240 and leaves C$820 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. Your version of this table is the useful one, and it takes a short call and a document pack to produce.

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.

The four steps

  1. 1A first call to map the obligations across every country involved
  2. 2A single fixed fee covering the whole set, agreed before we begin
  3. 3Preparation in the order that makes the relief usable, with a reviewer's sign-off
  4. 4You approve the finished work, and we file it
  • Nothing is filed until you have read it.
  • Authorisation with each authority, so we see the assessments and slips directly rather than asking you for them.
  • A 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068, before you commit to anything.

Your next step

One call is usually enough to know whether this is a filing or a project.

Reviewed for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Written as general guidance, not as a recommendation for your situation. Talk it through with us before acting on it.

International tax accountant — what this page covers

Read this page for international tax accountant. It works through IT contractors: relief you're probably missing 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.

How the engagement runs, phase by phase

  1. Start with a conversation about the facts

    Dates, residence, where the income arose. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to know what applies.

  2. Scope and price, both written down

    You get the scope and the fixed fee together, so there is no question later about what was included.

  3. Prepared by one team, reviewed by a named practitioner

    The same people see both sides of the file, and the reviewer signs their name to it.

  4. Filed, then followed through

    Submission is not the end of the engagement — the queries that arrive afterwards are part of it.

The difference a dedicated cross-border team makes

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

Non-resident alien
A US tax classification for someone who is neither a citizen nor a resident under the green-card or presence tests. Non-resident aliens are taxed on US-source income and on income connected with a US business.
Arrival valuation
Documentation of what property was worth on the day residence began, which sets the cost base and cannot be recreated years later.
Form 926
The US return reporting a transfer of property to a foreign corporation — including capitalising the company you just formed.
FinCEN 114
The form number of the FBAR. It is filed electronically with FinCEN and is not attached to the tax return.

It contractors relief you're probably missing — what the published fees look like

Relief at the company level is costed separately. Whether the contractor's own corporation can claim ordinary deductions turns on the personal-services-business test, and answering it means reading the client contracts and the working arrangements themselves — quick where those papers exist, longer where they have to be reconstructed.

Corporate cross-border filing

$999fixed, before work starts

Covers: Company filings where income, ownership or operations cross a border, with the related-party disclosures that come with them.

See this fee page

Non-resident & departure filings

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: The filings that follow a move: the departure year, the arrival year, and the income that keeps arriving from the country behind you.

See this fee page

What working with us on it contractors relief you're probably missing looks like

18,000+ clients served

Individuals, expats and corporations across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE have filed with us — 15+ years of cross-border work.

One team, not two firms billing separately

You are not the go-between for two sets of advisers with two sets of assumptions. One engagement covers each country the file touches.

The fee is fixed before we start

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

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 firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office

How the engagement runs, phase by phase

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 and the team in the open-plan office

A fixed quote first, in writing

  • Step 1: Send what you already have – Slips, statements, prior returns — in any order. We list what is still needed after reading them.
  • Step 2: A fee agreed in writing – Quoted from those documents, before the work starts, and it does not move once you accept it.
  • Step 3: Each side drafted against the other – The returns are built together rather than in sequence, so relief is claimed once and in the right country.
  • Step 4: You approve before it is filed – The finished return comes to you first. Nothing is submitted on your behalf unseen.

Quoted up front, in writing.

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

Where to go next

Browse sideways: the pages below answer the neighbouring questions.

The work we do for clients like this

Profit split method Its own page: profit split method — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Pensions and annuities — the treaty article Everything on pensions annuities treaty article, at the same depth as this page.
Indian company setting up in the US Indian company setting up in the US — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
CRA net worth audit The full guide to CRA net worth audit, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Form T106 — non-arm's-length transactions Its own page: t106 non arms length transactions — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Crypto trading vs investing Everything on crypto trading vs investing, at the same depth as this page.
Liaison office reporting and closure Liaison office reporting and closure — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Customs value vs transfer price The full guide to customs value vs transfer price, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Form 14653 — non-resident certification Its own page: form 14653 non resident certification — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.

Who we help

Franchise owners — your filing calendar Its own page: franchise owners your filing calendar — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Tax for coaches & trainers Everything on coaches & trainers tax, at the same depth as this page.
Tax for architects Architects tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Agriculture & agri-tech cross-border tax The full guide to agriculture & agri-tech cross border tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Seafarers & mariners — what we charge Its own page: seafarers & mariners what we charge — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Technology & SaaS — relief you're probably missing Everything on technology & saas relief you're probably missing, at the same depth as this page.
Construction & contracting — what we charge Construction & contracting what we charge — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Software developers — what you owe in each country The full guide to software developers what you owe in each country, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Management consultants — your filing calendar Its own page: management consultants your filing calendar — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.

Countries and corridors this work reaches

Costa Rica tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Costa Rica tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Estonia tax for expats — country guide Everything on Estonia tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Slovakia tax for expats — country guide Slovakia tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Zambia tax for expats — country guide The full guide to zambia tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Ghana tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Ghana tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Saudi Arabia tax for expats — country guide Everything on Saudi Arabia tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Russia tax for expats — country guide Russia tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Armenia tax for expats — country guide The full guide to armenia tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Qatar tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Qatar tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.

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 tax case studies

Case study 1

The Same Income Taxed Twice on Paper

Relief usually exists and is lost to sequence: one country taxes at source and the other credits it, and preparing them in the wrong order claims a credit against a figure nobody has computed.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

A Residency Determination Review After Leaving the Country

Residence is decided on ties, not on a form, and the review asks for evidence of every one of them. The file assembles the ties that were severed and the ones that remained, and answers the questionnaire against the treaty rather than around it.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

A Canadian Working in the US on a Work Visa

Immigration status and tax residence are different tests, and a visa says nothing about which country taxes the salary. The file fixes residence, applies the employment article, and sequences the two returns so the credit lands where it is usable.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

A US Citizen Settled in India, Filing on Both Sides

Residence in India and citizenship in the United States produce two annual returns for one income. The order decides the credit, and the Indian financial year and the US calendar year have to be reconciled before either is prepared.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

A Clean History Used to Remove a First Penalty

An administrative waiver can remove a first failure where the filing and payment record supports it, and it is spent once used. Whether to claim it now or keep it for a heavier year is a judgement made with the whole file in view.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

Wintering in the US Long Enough to Become a US Filer

Days in the United States accumulate across three years, and enough of them make you a US resident for tax regardless of immigration status. The file counts the days properly and files the statement that keeps the position closer connection rather than residence.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

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 8

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

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

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
Explore Real Estate

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

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

IT contractors — relief you're probably missing — questions we are asked

What makes it contractors different from an ordinary filing?

An independent IT contractor abroad is running a business, which raises the permanent-establishment question about the contractor's own company and, in some systems, the personal-services-business rules that deny it ordinary treatment. 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.

What is cross-border tax?

Cross-border tax is what applies when income, assets or people touch more than one tax system at once — someone living in one country and earning in another, a company selling or hiring abroad, a family holding property in a second country. The work is rarely one country's rules applied harder; it is reconciling two sets of rules and claiming the relief that stops the same income being taxed twice at full rates. See what we do.

Do NRIs pay tax on money sent to India?

Sending your own funds to India is a transfer of capital, not income, so the remittance itself is not taxed. What is taxable is income the money then earns in India — interest, rent, capital gains — under the rules for the account type it sits in. Sending money out of India is the direction that needs certification before the bank will act. See NRE, NRO and FCNR accounts.

Can you talk to my lawyer or my banker?

Yes, with your authorisation. In cross-border files the bank and the lawyer frequently hold the document that decides the tax question, so bringing them in early saves a cycle.

Do you give a written opinion?

Where the position warrants one, yes — with the reasoning, the authority relied on, and what would change the answer. It is quoted as part of the scope rather than added afterwards.

Fixed fee agreed before we start

Talk to us about it contractors filing

One call to the 24-hour helpline is enough to tell you what has to be filed, what it costs, and whether you need us at all.

  • Fixed fees agreed before work starts
  • A named reviewer signs off every filing
  • 18,000+ clients served

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