Both Passports, US tax home

[oyster]

My wife and I were born into US citizenship and acquired Canadian citizenship years ago. We carry both passports and are square with the two countries' tax services. Two years ago we moved to the States for family reasons; our tax home is now the US, and though we keep a camp in Nova Scotia, we expect to remain citizen-residents of the US.

Our taxes for the first or transition year were complex, and done for us by KPMG in Halifax. The cost was very high, and I'd like to try doing it myself this year; our RRIFs have taxes withheld, and our property taxes (even those paid on the NS property) are deductible in the US. Most of our income derives from US sources, but a sizable fraction comes from Canadian dollar pensions, including CPP and OAS. However, now that we are settled in the US, our tax situation seems to be much simplified.

I wonder if there are any of you who are roughly in our position and who do their own taxes with the aid of the usual tax software. Or do you use a professional service? Do you have any cautions or advice you are willing to share as I gear up for this project?

Oyster

[Steven]

You probably can do the US side with Turbo Tax although personally I'd still have a careful read of the 1040 instructions and the 1116 instructions to make sure you've done it right. There are also obscure forms you may need to file like 8891.

If you have Canadian-source income you may need to file a non-resident T1 (which it sounds as though you do from what you've said), you can download the instructions and the package from the CRA website. It doesn't sound as though any of your Canadian-source stuff is particularly unusual so the regular instructions should cover it.