# Seeking for a tax accountant and looking for advice



## Kinny (Apr 3, 2009)

Hi,

I'm currently looking for a tax accountant and was wondering if anyone have any good recommendations you can recommended. I'm looking for a tax accountant who provides the following services:

- Help file income tax for myself and my wife
- Provide advice and taxation benefits
- Who has some insight with US taxation. Although i've worked in the USA for the past year and my company paid US taxes (which shouldn't have any implications with my Canadian filing), any advice/tips would be beneficial

Also, on a side note, I got married in 2012, so therefore wondering should I be filing my taxes jointly? or separately? What are the benefits of doing so?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Cheers!

Edit: I live in Toronto.


----------



## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

You should probably say where you're located. I have never used an accountant so I have no recommendations. 

Regarding marriage, there's no such thing as filing jointly in Canada. You each file separately, you check the box saying you're married, and you can coordinate the returns so that each spouse claims the credits in a beneficial way (e.g. in my household I am the high income earner, so all charitable donations go on my return instead of his). Any tax software will let you do this, but as you plan to use an accountant, I'm sure the accountant will also be able to do this.


----------



## Kinny (Apr 3, 2009)

Thanks Spudd. I live in Toronto.


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

There is more to this than meets the eye. The Canada-US tax treaty has tie breakers in it to determine whether you are a resident of Canada or USA for taxation purposes for 2012 (and that depends on a series of things). Even if your company has paid your US taxes, that really means normal withholding from your US pay cheques only, and NOT taxes based on worldwide income. ISTM you will need to file a 1040NR (non-resident alien) or 1040 (resident alien) in the USA depending on tax residency. US tax returns are due Apr 15th, although can be extended to June, provided however you pay any outstanding balances by Apr 15th. You will either have foreign tax credits in your Canadian filing (if a Canadian resident for tax purposes) or foreign tax credits in your US filing (if a US resident alien). I would have thought your company would have provided you with the services of a cross-border tax accountant to handle the 2 tax returns.


----------

