ALLEGIANCE TO CANADA

The second year we travelled into the USA, someone introduced us to the 8840 Form, to be registered with the American IRS.  This is a form whereby you state your allegiance to Canada, even though you spend a lot of time in the USA. 

In this form you are also stating where you household belongings are?.  Canada.  Where is your main bank?  Canada.   Did you have any USA income?  No. Where do you pay your taxes?  Canada.  Who issued you drivers license?     Canada.   etc… etc…

                                                           

                      

                                            

And it isn’t a simple calculation of making sure you don’t spend more than (183 days) 6 month in the US, like most people think.  You have to declare how many days you were here last year, the year before, and the year before that and they calculate it based on a "Substantial Presence Test".  You are considered a U.S. resident if you meet the substantial presence test for 2016. You meet this test if you were physically present in the United States for at least:  31 days during 2016 and183 days during the period 2016, 2015, and 2014, counting all the days of physical presence in 2016 but only 1/3 of the number of days of presence in 2015 and only 1/6 the number of days in 2014.   How’s that for complicating things.   

So, I got that done this past week, and now it is my Birthday, so I’m going out dancing tonight.  

 HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE.