Living in Canada and working for USA company remotely

Can you even get a SIN if you don't have legal resident status?

You've got to have a work permit or PR status to get an SIN. SINs issued to permit holders are time limited.

You can't get a Canadian DL as a visitor either, they will ask to see your permit or your PR card.

Personally I thought McCain slaughtered Obama later on in that debate, Obama started to stutter and every other line McCain was saying: "When I went to." or "When I met with." which just made Obama look painfully inexperienced, especially when he was forced to mention Biden.

He did better than McCain to begin with but I thought McCain did quite well with the line: "When you're that far to the left, it's hard to reach across the aisle." Definitely the most memorable line of the debate.

Neither of them are particularly good debaters, Obama gives good speeches and McCain is better at talking informally.

I think McCain would do better to try talking directly to him, I don't think Obama is that good at to and fro.

I would like to jump in on this discussion and ask about a variation. I work in Canada, and am a contractor for a US company. I am a sole proprietor, and I bill them monthly in US dollars. I have other customers, but this company forms the lion's share of my billing at present.

From time to time, I visit them for a bunch of meetings crammed into a week. Is it sufficient to say I am just "going for meetings"? On one visit, USIS gave me the gears, saying I needed to be incorporated to prove I was not working full time for this company. They eventually changed their mind (after a huge delay at the airport), but now I am spooked.

Does it matter that I have most of my income coming from them, on a regular (monthly) basis? I have a signed contract clearly stating my contractor status and, again, I do all my work in Canada. I cannot imagine this is offside, but my bad experience makes me wonder.

-- tomo

Absolutely you can go in as a regular B-1 visitor for business for this purpose.

I would say the best thing to take with you would be your US tax return. Under US law if you're a self-employed foreigner in another country with a US client, you have to report to the IRS your income and make a tax treaty claim, which is basically so that they are aware of your tax treaty status and your client doesn't have to do non-resident alien withholding.

You file a 1040NR tax return and an 8833 tax treaty claim every year at tax time, and you file an 8233 with your client to inform them of your tax status (so they have something to show the IRS in case they get audited to prove they don't have to do NRA withholding). There is no tax to pay in the US unless you do the work there, it's just a reporting requirement.

That proves you are a non-resident alien because it's a non-resident return, and the Canadian address on the return indicates that's your principal residence. The fact you pay no tax largely (not totally because there is a limited exception in the tax treaty for short-term work) proves that the work is being done outside the US.

Whether or not they're clever enough to deduce that from your 1040NR is an open question, but you have to file it anyway and it doesn't get much better in terms of proof.

Hi Steve,

I've been reading your responses and was very impressed by your knowledge. I'm hoping you might be able to answer a quick question. I am a U.S. citizen and now live in Canada as a permanent resident. I am self-employed and receive most of my income from a U.S. company that was my full-time employer when I lived in the U.S. I work remotely and invoice them monthly. They do not charge me any taxes and will send me a 1099 for the year. I understand the need to file both Canadian and U.S. taxes but wonder if this client must file any additional paperwork in order to procure my services.

Thanks!

Ken

Oops, I neglected to add that I am a Canadian citizen, which I can certainly prove with tax returns. My worry is based on something one of the USIS guys said: that if I make "a lot" of money from this US company, I am *effectively* an employee and need a work visa. This sounds bizarre to me, but when you are at the airport waiting to be "allowed" in it is hard to muster up pushback beyond "yes sir, no sir".

-- tomo

What citizenship you have doesn't really come into it, how much money you take from them is also irrelevant. Like I said, you have to file paperwork with the IRS which essentially documents the work is being performed in Canada, so I can't really think of anything better than that as proof and you have to file the paperwork anyway.

Bear in mind this reporting requirement was never really aimed at people like you - it was aimed as companies like Sony, who have to file an 1120-F corporate return with their 8833 every year and give 8233s to say, US Govt. agencies who they are contracted to.

It's not really in the remit of USCIS to disagree with that, but it does provide you with evidence.

I am a U.S. citizen and now live in Canada as a permanent resident. I am self-employed and receive most of my income from a U.S. company that was my full-time employer when I lived in the U.S. I work remotely and invoice them monthly. They do not charge me any taxes and will send me a 1099 for the year. I understand the need to file both Canadian and U.S. taxes but wonder if this client must file any additional paperwork in order to procure my services.

This is a different situation obviously as you are a US citizen and have to file a 1040 every year as a non-resident (as opposed to a 1040NR).

I've never done this one personally but I assume you simply file a 1040 as a non-resident and declare your income on it, but as the work was physically performed in Canada there is no US tax, you use the 1099s to complete your T1, do payroll deductions, etc. and pay Canadian taxes on it. You use Form 2555 to claim a foreign tax credit with your 1040.

The only wrinkle is if your income is over the limit stated on Form 2555 (which was $87,500 in 2007), then you will also have to pay taxes on the amount over that income. There are living expenses deductions you can claim to raise the limit on the 2555, but I think for Canada they are minimal (in fact I think they're non-existent).

I'm not sure non-resident US citizens have to make a formal tax treaty claim but I have a feeling they do, so you have to file a completed Form 8833 with your 1040 as well.

Check with the IRS non-resident dept. in PA to confirm all this because I might be wrong in some of the details. When you talk to them the thing to stress is that all the work is performed in Canada ("work" does not include training, meetings with them, things like that).

If you do actually perform some of the work in the US it gets much more complicated because under the 2008 tax treaty you have to pay tax proportionally, but there is no published guidance yet on how it will be implemented. I can guess if you want.

And to everyone in this thread - Form 8833 is a one-page form they reckon takes six and a half hours to complete, so phone up the IRS and ask them how to complete it _every year_ because the tax treaty changes.

Wow, I never in a million years would have expected that, as a Canadian citizen, working as an independent self-employed consultant in Canada and having a US-based customer, I would have to file something with the IRS.

Sigh.

-- tomo