# Canadian living in the USA working remotely for a Canadian company



## Calab (Dec 13, 2016)

I am a Canadian citizen and I have the option of performing my job remotely. I am considering selling my home in Canada and moving to the USA with my family and telecommuting for my Canadian employer.

How would this work? What taxes would I pay and to whom? Is a VISA required? 

Any information provided would be greatly appreciated!


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Selling the house is a big step towards being a Canadian NR.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/cmmn/rsdncy-eng.html

If you emigrate, then capital property will generate a deemed disposition with a capital gain (aka departure tax).
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/lvng-eng.html

Emigrating also means leaving the Canadian medical care system so you will need to price out a replacement as I doubt your Canadian employer is going to provide for this. Maybe they will but as it is an additional cost where it seems to be your choice to move to the US, I doubt it.

If you end up needing a green card or when you are in the US long enough, you will become a US tax resident where world wide income is taxed. 
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/determining-alien-tax-status
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxation-of-resident-aliens

Being a NR of Canada has the benefit of capping investment income (ex. after the departure tax is paid for or deferred to the sale, future capital gains are paid to the US, dividends are subject to a withholding tax to Canada plus whatever the US taxes on dividends are).
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html

One of the complicated parts is that since you are working for a Canadian company, it looks to me like you will have Part I tax of income from employment in Canada or from a business carried on in Canada. The way I read it, this means in addition to filing a US tax return, you will have to file a Canadian tax return.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html

If you are a Canadian NR, then the closer connection exemption is not available but there should be other provisions of the Canada - US tax treaty that may help.

Keep in mind that the US will tax your TFSA as well as any growth in your RRSP so make sure to leave time for pre-planning as well as consulting experts.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...er-before-you-move-to-the-us/article21934012/
http://www.everythingzoomer.com/moving-to-the-united-states-know-your-rrsp-rules/


From what Canadian tax residents working in the US have written, you'll likely also have to be careful about what sort of investments on buys.


I can't really add anything on the Visa front as when I have worked in the US, I was working for a Canadian company that had sold my services to the US firm. The work was in the US, which meant visas had to be obtained. It would not surprise me if you needed a visa but it is a different situation than when I have talked to experts.


Cheers


*PS*

I would take my time to find out what is needed, what makes sense and consult with reputable experts before making such a big change.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Most definitely take the time to figure out what is needed. I am not sure the OP could even legally live in the USA in this situation. There is no US 'employer' to sponsor his work visa and if he cannot get a work visa, the best he can likely get is a 6 month visitor visa (which is what casual entry to the USA really is anyway).


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Some other high level articles about considerations ...
http://www.cramagazine.com/issues/spring07/article02.htm
http://www.expatfocus.com/financial-planning-for-expats-moving-to-the-usa
http://madanca.com/blog/canadians-working-abroad-overseas-outside-canada-tax-implications/


Cheers


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I don't know whether you are a US citizen, so that might change a lot. Here are a few things to ask yourself:

How stable and guaranteed long term is your US job?

What if you sell your home, close all your bank accounts, and shut down all of your Canadian financial footprint... only to work in the US for 2 years, lose your job, and then have to re-establish everything in Canada? That's a ton of work. Are you sure you want to give up your Canadian residency? Jobs in this economy are fleeting, and short lived.

Are you going to buy a home in the US? Is it a good idea to buy property when you have no rights in a country and could be denied entry at any time? (If you're a US citizen that's obviously different)

Trump has pledged to tighten the US borders. How will this impact your ability to travel, and work, in the US as a non-citizen?

NAFTA previously gave many of us Canadians easy mobility to work in the US. Trump has pledged to repeal NAFTA.

Check into this - working in the US, you may no longer be growing your CPP contributions. Certainly if it's a US employer, your CPP eligibility stops growing. Maybe with a Canadian employer you won't be forfeiting CPP.

Even if you work in the US, you won't be eligible to collect social security for a long time because this requires a long residency. Yet all of these years, you will be paying into Social Security, Medicare, etc. 10% of every one of my US paycheque are deductions that go into US government programs that I will not be eligible to collect (or never eligible for) in a long time. And keep in mind that the US could change regulations about eligibility for social security. Does it require permanent residency? Citizenship? Physical presence in the USA for X years? All of these are open to change.

My two cents is that there is financial value in maintaining long term residency in one jurisdiction. This is most apparent with pension schemes like CPP and SS, but also affects your banking and investments -- your jurisdiction will dictate all of these.

And with all due respect to my American friends, I think Canada is the better of these two jurisdictions. Which is why I work in the US but have not forfeited my Canadian residency.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Except the OP is simply wanting to call the USA his country of residence. His employment is Canadian based. There is no US job nor US employer.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Oh, hmm. Good point. In that case, the big things might be

Tax consequences: deemed disposition of all Canadian assets. Might have to give up TFSA or spend a lot of money getting a tax specialist to fill the forms every year. RRSP gets frozen when you become non-resident. Will have to get rid of all Canadian domiciled ETFs and mutual funds held non registered (look up: PFIC). Will no longer accumulate TFSA contribution room. Will have to report (to the USA) an itemized listing of every Canadian and other foreign accounts you hold. And how exactly does employer-matching RRSP contributions work when you're in a nonresident status? I bet it's not pretty -- look into that.

Banking: You'll probably have to transfer all your banking and money to the US, because you will have limited ability to interact with Canadian institutions once you're a non resident. At this point you will also notice that you have zero credit history in the US, which will complicate basic things like getting a credit card or any kind of loan. By the way, after 3 years in the US, I've established a pretty good credit history.

Health care: no more provincial health care. Private health coverage varies widely... and is extremely difficult to figure out. For example your employer could offer you health insurance, but you could still end up paying thousands of dollars out of pocket. Trust me, this is extremely complicated. For example, I have what's considered quite good US health insurance from an employer, and yet I can still potentially pay as much as $10,000 a year out of pocket depending on how unlucky I am.

How permanent? Consider again, what happens if you need to go back to Canada. Shifting from one country to the next is a lot of work... now imagine transferring all your banking, investments, tax things back into Canada.


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