The time is ripe for Americans living in Canada to come clean with U.S. authorities and start reporting their taxes, experts say.
There are roughly a million U.S. citizens in Canada, and by most estimates, a significant percentage of them don’t file their taxes with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, as required by U.S. law.
Staying in the shadows has been the preferred route for many, often for their entire working lives. Many were either unaware they had to file, assuming incorrectly that paying higher taxes exempted them from paying U.S. ones. Many accidental Americans may not have even been aware they were still U.S. citizens after living most of their lives in Canada.
The option of doing nothing is about to get much riskier, and potentially more costly as the U.S. cracks down, according to tax experts.
The 2011 tax year marks a pivotal decision point for expatriate Americans, according to Beth Webel, tax services partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Hamilton.
“For people who don’t owe anything, the general feeling is that now is the time to come clean,” Ms. Webel argued.
That’s because U.S. officials have promised to accommodate individuals who don’t owe any taxes and were unaware of their reporting obligations. There’s also a new amnesty program, which could be attractive for people who do owe money to the IRS.
And finally, onerous new reporting requirements kick in this year for Americans who have significant foreign financial accounts (at least $200,000 U.S. for individuals and $400,000 for couples). IRS Form 8938 – Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets – is the latest in a string of measures aimed at tightening the noose around Americans who are hiding money offshore.
A good place to start for “delinquent filers” is to figure out whether they owe U.S. taxes. Ms. Webel recommends going back at least six years and doing a draft U.S. return for the year that is most likely to be problematic.
A Canada-U.S. tax treaty is supposed to protect individuals from being taxed twice on the same income. But there are quirks in the two tax regimes that could leave Canadians exposed to U.S. taxes on items such as corporate income or proceeds of a house sale. As well, the U.S. doesn’t recognize Canadian tax-free savings accounts, and could tax income you thought was sheltered.
“You need to assess what your exposure is,” said Matt Smith, a senior manager at Deloitte & Touche LLP. “What many people find out is there’s no tax to pay and [they have] some exposure on information reporting, but it’s manageable. Before you get excited, find out what you’re excited about and you may find it’s not the issue that you think it is.”
There are at least five options: the “just-cause” defence, amnesty, soft disclosure, do nothing or renounce your citizenship.
None of these options is very palatable, particularly for Canadians who’ve been dutifully reporting their income to the Canada Revenue Agency. And most options involve significant costs, potentially steep penalties ($10,000 per account per year) and even risk of criminal prosecution. Just hiring an accountant to file past returns and various other IRS reporting requirements can run into the thousands of dollars a year.
1. The just-cause defence: If you don’t owe anything to the IRS, this may be the way to go. File six years of back taxes, along with Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) plus the new 8938 form for 2011, and plead just-cause for not doing so earlier. The IRS is poised to release further details on this option. If the IRS accepts your mea culpa, the penalty is zero.
