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.
