living in canada potential to work in US

[spydy14]

I am a Canadian living in a Border town (Ontario, Minnesota) For the past 15 years I have been working for a large Chemical Company selling to the Paper Industry in the US and Canada. I have held a TN (scientific technician, technologist) for that same term. I have been paid from the Canadian Office so i have not had to get SSN and have always paid Canadian taxes. I have just beem offered a position at the paper mill on the US side of the boarder. I have worries about Maintaining my TN status, Taxes ect. Can anyone help me get a better understanding of what all i will need to do. To work on the US side and continue to live in Canada.

Thanks much

Brian

[Reba]

If you were working for and being paid by the Canadian company, why did you have a TN?

Is this a US/Canada company? If there are offices on both sides of the border, you could get an L1B intra-company transfer visa, work for the US office, but continue to live in Canada. Or you could just continue getting TNs. They have 3 year ones now.

[spydy14]

Reba thanks for the response. I did have the L1b for 5 years and then transitioned to the TN. Yes it is a world wide company with offices in Canada and US and europe but I only work in the US now. The TN allows me to cross the border everyday to go to the paper mill where I work for the chemical company. The job offer has come from this paper mill and the job would be for a Engineer. My education is a Engineering Technologist, but i have 16 years experience working in the engineering feild. How much of the visa is dependant on the sponsoring company and how much is dependent on my education, work experience and new title.

[Reba]

An L1B would also allow you to commute, there's nothing in the rules that says you have to live in the US with an L1B.

I honestly don't know much about the TN at all, I've never qualified for one because I don't have a university degree. But from what I do know, if you want a TN, your degree and your job title have to match. If they don't, then in your case, you're best off going for the L1B again.

[Steven]

TN-1 was specifically designed for this sort of situation, so if you have TN-1 and continue to qualify for it your immigration situation is fine, nothing makes them happier than telling them you still live in Canada. TN-1 only becomes dicey when people try and stay in the US for very long periods of time.

For details on the tax situation read: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/p151/README.html and IRS publication 519.

To wittle it down for you, don't worry about the substantial presence test, clearly you are resident in Canada for tax purposes.

If you have to fill in a W-4, have a read of page 24-25 of IRS publication 515 which tells you how to fill it in as a non-resident alien.

Basically, they give you a W-2 (if you're paid in the US), you fill in a 1040NR and a Form 8840 to declare your income every year and send it in at tax time. If you've paid US payroll taxes, you claim a foreign tax credit in Canada for them. The general guide for the T1 explains how to do this.

If they still pay you in Canada then you get a T4 anyway so nothing changes essentially, although technically you are still supposed to declare your income to the US and pay US taxes on it at tax time, claim a foreign tax credit, etc. if your US-source income exceeded $10,000 or you were physically there for more than 90 days. However I doubt anyone does if they get a T4, but you're supposed to. Either way you still pay the same amount of tax, just to different countries.

If you've got TN-1 already, I'd suggest going down to the local SSA office and applying for an SSN, it will speed things up if they want to give you a W-2 (i.e. you're on the US payroll).