One advisor, two tax systems.

Yes. The United States taxes its citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income regardless of where they live, so a US citizen or green-card holder resident in Canada generally must file an annual US return in addition to a Canadian return. This is true even for someone who has lived in Canada for decades or has never worked in the US.

In most cases the foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credits reduce or eliminate the actual US tax for residents of a higher-tax country like Canada — but the filing obligation continues regardless of whether any US tax is owed. There are also separate information-reporting requirements, such as the FBAR and FATCA forms.

Because the penalties for missed filings can be significant, US persons in Canada who have fallen behind should assess their options, including the IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, before the gap grows.

FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is a US filing required of US persons whose foreign financial accounts had an aggregate maximum value over US$10,000 at any point in the year. It reports the accounts themselves, separately from the income tax return, and the penalties for non-filing can be substantial.

FATCA refers to the reporting of "specified foreign financial assets" on Form 8938, filed with the US income tax return when the value of those assets exceeds defined thresholds. The thresholds are higher for US persons living abroad than for those in the US.

Both regimes commonly catch US persons in Canada with ordinary Canadian accounts — chequing, savings, brokerage, TFSAs, RESPs, and RRSPs. Because the forms are information returns with their own penalties separate from any tax owing, they are an important part of cross-border compliance and a common subject of catch-up filings.

When you cease to be a Canadian tax resident, section 128.1 of the Income Tax Act generally deems you to have disposed of most of your property at fair market value the moment before you leave — the "departure tax." Accrued gains become taxable in the year of departure even though nothing has actually been sold.

The deemed disposition catches most capital property — public and private shares, investment portfolios, and the like — but not certain categories, including taxable Canadian property (such as Canadian real estate), registered plans like RRSPs and TFSAs, and some other items. Where the tax bill is large relative to available cash, an election (Form T1244) allows payment to be deferred if acceptable security is posted.

The planning window largely closes the day residency ceases, so most planning — restructuring holdings, locking in valuations, coordinating with the destination country's rules — must happen before the move.

Possibly. The US "substantial presence test" can treat a non-citizen as a US tax resident based on days of US presence, counting all current-year days, one-third of the prior year's days, and one-sixth of the days from the year before that. A typical snowbird spending several months a year in the US can reach the 183-day threshold.

Two protections commonly keep snowbirds on the Canadian side. Where US presence is under 183 days in the current year, Form 8840 (the Closer Connection Exception Statement) can preserve non-resident status; it must be filed by the US filing deadline each year. Where the test is met, the Canada-US tax treaty's residency tie-breaker, claimed on Form 1040-NR with Form 8833, generally resolves residency to Canada for someone with stronger Canadian ties.

Snowbirds who own US real estate should also be aware of potential US estate-tax exposure at death, which can apply even where no US income-tax return is required. The day counts and filings are worth reviewing each year.

Yes. Undisclosed offshore income and assets, and missed Form T1135 (Foreign Income Verification Statement) filings, are among the most common subjects of voluntary disclosures. Form T1135 is required where the cost of specified foreign property exceeds the $100,000 threshold, and missed filings carry their own penalties.

Offshore disclosures are often multi-year and may involve coordinated personal, corporate, and trust filings, so completeness is especially important. Where there is a parallel US filing obligation, the Canadian disclosure can be coordinated with the US side so both jurisdictions are addressed together.

As with any disclosure, the matter must still be voluntary — assessed before the CRA makes contact. Given the penalties that attach to offshore non-compliance, early advice is worthwhile.

Under FIRPTA, when a foreign person sells US real estate the buyer must generally withhold up to 15% of the gross sale price and remit it to the IRS. The withholding is not the final tax — it is an advance against the seller's actual US tax on the gain — but because it is calculated on the gross price rather than the gain, it often far exceeds the tax actually owed.

The seller can apply before closing for a withholding certificate (Form 8288-B) showing the expected tax, which can reduce the amount held back at closing; this generally takes a couple of months to process, so early application helps. After year-end, the seller files Form 1040-NR to report the actual gain and claim any over-withheld amount as a refund.

For a Canadian-resident seller, the gain is also taxable in Canada, with a foreign tax credit available for the US tax paid. Coordinating the US and Canadian filings — including currency translation and the timing of the credit — is what prevents the same gain from being economically taxed twice.

Yes. The US imposes estate tax on the US-situs assets of non-resident, non-citizen individuals — most commonly US real estate and shares of US corporations — even where the owner has no other US connection. Under domestic US law the exemption for non-residents is very small, which can expose Canadians who own US property or US-listed shares.

The Canada-US tax treaty softens this with a prorated unified credit, calculated by reference to the ratio of US-situs assets to worldwide assets. For many estates that credit eliminates the exposure; for larger worldwide estates, US estate tax can still apply.

Planning levers include holding US real estate through a Canadian corporation or a properly structured entity, life insurance to fund the projected liability, and trust planning. Because the exposure depends on the size and composition of the whole estate, it is worth modelling in advance rather than discovering at death.

The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures are an IRS program for US persons living outside the United States who fell out of compliance with US filing obligations without intending to. The submission consists of three years of amended income tax returns, six years of FBARs, and a signed certification that the conduct was non-willful.

To qualify, the taxpayer must be a non-US-resident in at least one of the three relevant years, must not already be under IRS examination or criminal investigation, and must be able to certify truthfully that the non-compliance was non-willful — that is, due to negligence, inadvertence, mistake, or a good-faith misunderstanding of the law. Where the conditions are met, the program is generally penalty-free.

The non-willful certification is the central document, and an inaccurate one carries serious consequences, so the facts should be assessed carefully before filing. Where the Canadian side also has unreported income, the package is often coordinated with a Canadian voluntary disclosure.