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Here's my situation:

I am a Canadian citizen doing a postdoc in USA. I have Canadian fellowship, supplemented by my University in US. Thus, I have Canadian income (fellowship) and US income (regular pay).

How should I file taxes? This is my 4th year here (so I am considered Resident Alien for tax purposes), but first time this particular situation occurs.

Thanks,
TP

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    You should probably talk to a tax preparer or attorney.
    – Buffy
    Mar 4, 2019 at 20:37
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    Agree, but they charge insane amounts of money for counseling; thus my question over here.
    – ThePresident
    Mar 9, 2019 at 4:27
  • Who is paying your Canadian income? Did they give you a specific type of slip to report the income? When you say fellowship, is that like a grant, employment income... would you argue it is earned as a reward for work already done in Canada? Or do you need to provide updates / results for the duration of your fellowship in the US? These questions may impact taxability of that income stream in Canada, and whether Canada or the US has the first right to tax it [meaning you pay tax to that country, and then claim a foreign tax credit in the other country].
    – Grade 'Eh' Bacon
    Aug 19, 2019 at 15:47

1 Answer 1

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EDIT: Just for the record if anyone else stumbles upon this:

If you're a Resident Alien for tax purposes in US (you can determine your status by following those rules), you have to first file and pay taxes in Canada for your Canadian income (in this case a postdoctoral fellowship). Then, you file your taxes in US for a worldwide income (including any US and Canadian income) and ask for foreign credits in US. The logic behind is that you can't ask for foreign credits in Canada if you are not a Canadian resident, therefore you first have to pay taxes in Canada and then ask a foreign credit in US since you're considered a US resident for tax purposes.

Hope that helps people :)

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    Careful - I'm thinking the Canadian fellowship may be considered Canadian-sourced income, which may mean that Canada has the first right to tax it under the Canada-US tax treaty. Given that you will have no non-refundable tax credits in Canada as a US resident, I'm guessing you'll pay tax in Canada, and will then apply those tax credits against your US tax on the same income stream. I'm... 60% confident on this...
    – Grade 'Eh' Bacon
    Aug 19, 2019 at 15:45
  • You're 100% right sir. As it turns out, you can't claim foreign credits in Canada as you are not resident. It makes total sense. Therefore, someone with Canadian income (postdoctoral fellowship is considered income since not used to pay tuition and there's no diploma) has to pay taxes in Canada and claim them as foreign credit in US.
    – ThePresident
    Jan 8, 2020 at 15:43
  • If you edit your answer to completely just be the revised answer [so no one reads the first paragraph and gets confused], I would be happy to change to an upvote.
    – Grade 'Eh' Bacon
    Jan 8, 2020 at 15:46
  • Good answer with the changes, thanks for coming back to update the site, as few people do that.
    – Grade 'Eh' Bacon
    Jan 8, 2020 at 16:45

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