Looking for some tax advice...

[chief444]

I'm in a bit of a unique situation. I'm moving to Canada from the US in a couple of months. My taxes are a pain to start with with rental property and a few other minor things. But now I'll be adding in gambling income and living abroad into the mix. I've spoken already with a couple of accountants locally (here in PA) on the matter and they're pretty useless when it comes to the living abroad issue.

So I guess what I'm asking is if anyone has been in a similar situation and if so how much difficulty can I expect? Any recommendations? Should I just pay two seperate accountants (one US and one in Canada) to handle both returns?

Also, my plan for the gambling income (which is basically all online) is just to print out monthly session details as support and basically use the PT info as backup (if necessary). Is this typical. Anything else I should be doing?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[eric5148]

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Also, my plan for the gambling income (which is basically all online) is just to print out monthly session details as support and basically use the PT info as backup (if necessary). Is this typical. Anything else I should be doing?

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You should keep track of your wins/losses on at least a daily basis. The IRS says that you technically need to count every single table session, but of course, that's almost impossible online. I doubt they could do anything to you if you count "sessions" as days.

The only thing I know about your moving to CA situation is that you should renounce your U.S. citizenship. Otherwise, the U.S. govt will make you pay taxes even if you don't live here.

[Nightwish]

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The only thing I know about your moving to CA situation is that you should renounce your U.S. citizenship. Otherwise, the U.S. govt will make you pay taxes even if you don't live here.

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Renouncing your US citizenship is perhaps one of the most -EV moves you can make in life.

[chief444]

I have no intention of doing that. One thing I have found on my own is that there is a $80k USD deduction that applies to most income obtained for any US citizens living permanently in Canada. There are some exceptions to this and I'm not 100% sure where Gambling income fits in. But basically only the portion over $80k USD of income gets double taxed, from what I have read. In any case, if I had any thoughts of renouncing my US citizenship I wouldn't have bothered with the question in the first place. But I'll pay some extra tax to maintain it if I need to.

Thanks for the responses so far.

[lozen]

If possible set up a CDN bank account. If you can do that you could channel your money into that. As you have another job your gambling profits would be tax fee here. Than use a neteller debit card or a CDN visa and pay your expenses that way. Just an idea. I know my CDN tax law also.

[chief444]

Yeah, I'm actually getting married (reason for moving there) so I'll have a bank account set and everything transferred. I don't really even have to worry about it until 2007 since I won't even get my residency or work permit in Canada until 2006. But as I said I've just had a hell of a time so far getting any one person who can guide me through the situation for both US & Canada. More than anything I was hoping to find someone who knew of an accounting firm that would do that. No big deal though I guess. I can just keep it all seperate if necessary.

Thanks.

[sredinator]

"Should I just pay two seperate accountants (one US and one in Canada) to handle both returns?"

There are numerous accountants with experience preparing both Canadian & US returns for non-residents, commuters etc. I would suggest going to someone with experience preparing both rather than splitting your returns between two preparers. This will be cheaper than paying two preparers and will likely result in better service.

If your planning on moving to SW Ontario and want a recommendation for a preparer PM me.

[chief444]

That's exactly what I'm looking for but I didn't have any luck searching one. I'm actually moving to Edmonton, AB. But any links or contacts or point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I figured there had to be some familiar with both but just no luck finding one yet. Thanks in advance.

[lozen]

Well Chief your moving to my fair city. If you want I can direct you to someone here. If You want PM me as my brother is a CMA and has his masters in accounting. Any other info I can help on just ask.Let me guess your in the Oil Industry. Were are youn moving from?

[chief444]

Awesome! I'll send a PM.