Taxes on TN...please help

Hey All,

My time in the USA is getting close to done. We came here because I could get a tax free per diem as 50% of my pay cheque. Its really nice as only half of my income is tax deductable and it allowed us to get rid of some debt. I cannot wait to go home but, am alittle miffed at how the taxes will work this year.

My official residence is still in Canada i.e. my house etc. So that means 2 taxes this year. I shouldn't have to worry about my per diem should I? It won't show up on my tax W2 form at all and is tax free in the US.

I shouldn't have to worry about double taxing either should I? The tax treaty protects that doesn't it?

How does it work? What about the money I paid into FICA, will I get that back because I'm sure when I do my Canadian taxes I'll have to pay UI and CPP won't I?

I've paid almost $4200 into FICA this year in 8 months.thats crazy. The weird thing here is I've paid about $3500 more in fed and State taxes without including the FICA here in the USA, than if I were in Canada making the same amount paying Fed and Prov. Even CPP and UI max out at $2500 or something like that I believe. Will I get that all back when my taxes are done if I'm right? I've been paying in extra tax to protect myself against some crazy tax man on either side of the border:)

Please help

There is a tax treaty between the 2 countries, so no you should not get "double dinged" for taxes. The only way you would have (that I can think of) is if you were in a higher tax bracket in Canada in your last reporting year, than you are currently in the US, and then you would have to pay the difference. For example, if the last year you worked in Canada you were at the 22% tax bracket, and you're only at a 18% bracket in the US, you'd likely have to pay Canada 4%.

I have no idea how they work out CPP and UI.

You may want to speak with a tax accountant professional who is familiar with cross border taxation issues. There's one firm called Serbinski I think it is. Google them, they have a website with a forum. I've never used them myself, and I've seen both good and bad comments about them. They're just the only name I know of for cross border tax stuff.