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I recently started a new job in Canada in mid-December, which means I am only on Canadian payroll for 3 weeks, and for most of the year I was on US payroll with my previous employer. I am a citizen of neither of these 2 countries, and I wonder if I will need to report my US income when filing Canadian tax and pay tax to canadian government for the income I earned in US, and vise versa.

Or can it just as simple as file these two independently without even the need to mention the other?

Thank you very much

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    Way too broad to answer. Can you at least tell us your status in either of the countries during the year?
    – littleadv
    Jan 1, 2013 at 19:31
  • I was on h1b visa in US, then for the last 21days of the year I have been in Canada as a temporary foreign worker on a 3 year work permit
    – John
    Jan 1, 2013 at 20:56

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The United States and Canada have three US-Canada tax treaties in effect. The details are complex, and I recommend you don't make decisions solely on the basis of a money.SE answer.

But as far as I as understand, you are required to file tax returns in both the USA and Canada for the year, and on each tax return, report all your income world-wide. However, thanks to the tax treaty provisions, you pay tax to Canada on income earned in Canada, and claim a foreign tax credit on your US tax return; and likewise for paying tax to the USA on income earned in the USA, and claiming a foreign tax credit on your Canadian tax return. The net effect of this is that you mostly won't pay double tax on your US and Canadian income, at least not to the US and Canada. I don't know if your country of citizenship will charge you tax, or has a tax treaty with the US or Canada.

Since you are not a US citizen, and in the current year won't be working in the USA, it may be that you won't have to file a US tax return for the current year. If you were a US citizen or permanent resident (as I am), you'd have to file a US tax return every year.

I am a US citizen who has lived in Canada for several years, on a temporary foreign work permit and then as a permanent resident. I have had a professional tax preparer who specialises in US and Canadian taxes prepare my returns in each on of those years. I considered it money well spent; dealing with the cross-border and cross-currency issues is not simple.

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