Canadian working for American Company in Canada

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone can answer this question for me. I have an American company wanting to hire me as Canadian territory manager. I will be working exclusively in Canada. Do I need a visa and if so which one? Would you sudgest I seek any legal advise from a firm specializing in this?

If you are living and working in Canada you will not need a visa for this.

Since you will be paid in american dollars, you will want to keep track of the Cdn dollar value when you receive your paystub - this will enable you to correcly declare your income for the year to Revenu Canada.

Yeah, try and get them to pay you in Canadian dollars if you can, but I bet they won't.

How does the employer handle the fact that I don't have a social security number?

You have to get an ITIN, the application form is on the IRS website, www.irs.gov

I have been told that I can only apply at the end of the tax year for my ITIN, since I need to have a return included in the application process? Is this teh case ?

I have been told that I can only apply at the end of the tax year for my ITIN, since I need to have a return included in the application process? Is this teh case ?

Yes, I believe that is the case now. When I got my ITIN, we submitted the W7 with our tax return, and we were told that was the only way to get it.

I'm not sure an employer can pay you on an ITIN, I'd have them look into it and find out.

Thanks for the help so far, I have been told that I simply give my social insurence number to the company for the remainder of this year. Then when I file 2008 taxes I will include my ITIN application. Upon recieving my ITIN the company will use that 9 digit number instead of my social insurance. My accountant then sorts out the tax issues in April for both US and Canadian. Does this sound correct?

Also, do Canadians qualify for health denefits from an American company? How do most people handle this?

I'm not sure they're asking the right questions of you. If they _need_ an SSN and you can't get one, then you use an ITIN, but I wonder from your post whether they know what they're on about. If you're in Canada and they're issuing you a T4, you don't need an ITIN, you use your SIN as normal, you fill in your T1 as normal using the T4 they issue you. Sounds to me like they may not be up to speed on Canadian tax laws.

If you're employed in Canada and you do the work there, you don't need to file a US return so why do they need an SSN/ITIN at all? It's entirely legal for you to go to meetings in the US without doing a US return.

If they issue you a W-2 and/or you need to fill in a 1040NR then you probably need an ITIN.

Healthcare benefits in the US are of no use to you unless you want to travel to the US for treatment. Unless they have a dental plan or something like that you can claim on in Canada, but that would be unusual. They are aware that healthcare is nationalised in Canada, right?

I don't know who you're dealing with but it sounds to me like they're new to Canada!