by Polaris Tax Counsel | Apr 16, 2015 | Cross-Border Tax
Of all the tax problems faced by a US citizen in Canada none are as potentially fraught as the ownership of Canadian mutual funds. A commonly held view is that these funds are Passive Foreign Investment Companies (PFICs) under US law. This view is based on an...
by Polaris Tax Counsel | Apr 16, 2015 | Cross-Border Tax
Canadian mutual funds held inside of an RRSP should not cause US tax problems. Assuming that Canadian mutual funds are PFICs (a position that’s far from certain), holding them in an RRSP negates the bad tax consequences that would otherwise come with stock in a PFIC...
by Polaris Tax Counsel | Apr 4, 2015 | Cross-Border Tax
If you’re a U.S. citizen living in Canada, you might be frantic about the IRS tax crackdown and hefty fines if you haven’t been tax compliant. How fast can the IRS come after you? What are its enforcement powers in Canada, anyway? Turns out, Canadian law has a trick...
by Polaris Tax Counsel | Mar 13, 2015 | Cross-Border Tax
The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has generated a lot of attention in Canada. It recently became Canadian law, as a part of the 2014 federal budget. FATCA requires Canadian financial institutions to send information about their US account holders to...
by Polaris Tax Counsel | Jan 23, 2015 | Cross-Border Tax
The United States has two tools to get information on accounts held by its citizens: FATCA and FBAR. Lots of attention has been paid to FATCA — less to FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Reporting). Its rules have been around since the 1970s. FBAR targets accounts that US...
by Polaris Tax Counsel | Jan 23, 2015 | Cross-Border Tax
Ben Franklin famously said that nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. One wonders, then, what Franklin would say about taxes due on death? US citizens living in Canada are subject to two different tax regimes on their death. For them, it would seem that...
