Dear Bird Talk, After we returned from Florida this winter, I called in to our pharmacy for a repeat on a prescription and was advised that the medication I had been taking was on back order and that I would have to ask my doctor to prescribe something different. If this were to happen immediately before we leave for Florida in the fall, is this considered a change inmedication and subject to the three-month waiting period before we could travel? Susan Nameth Ontario Ed.: I would try a different pharmacy first, as changing drugs can be a little tricky when your body is used to a particular drug. In any event, all you would have to do is advise Medipac (and perhaps other companies) of the change and you would be fine. Dear Bird Talk, In your note to Peter Kuzik in the spring issue 2019, issue #110, when you stated, “We would have given the Mexican…Medipac’s credit card,” did you mean Medipac’s insurance card? Please explain. Wording is very ambiguous. Thank you, James Smith Ed.: This was, and is, the Medipac company credit card. Sometimes a hospital, especially in Mexico, will not treat you unless they are given a credit card in advance. Do NOT give them your credit card, because there is a fairly high probability of abuse. Call Medipac and Medipac will give them their credit card. They will then have to deal with us rather than you for payment, and we are very good at this. BirdTalk Featuring the letters & concerns of our members SEND YOUR LETTERS TO Bird Talk, c/o CSANews 180 Lesmill Road Toronto, Ontario M3B 2T5 or by e-mail: csawriteus@snowbirds.org Bird Talk sometimes totally incorrect, occasionally even in writing. What we try to give you in Bird Talk is the most up-to-date information available. In answer to your two comments… 1. Both Canadian and U.S. tax systems are based on a self-reporting and honesty assumption. 2. ANY gain on a real estate sale is reportable and taxable in both Canada and the U.S. 3. The fact of any sale is reportable in the U.S. and Canada in the year following the sale, whether there was a gain or a loss. 4. In the U.S., there is a requirement to withhold 15% of the sale price and to send that amount to the IRS within 20 days of the closing. The one exception to this requirement is if the purchaser or a member of the family intends to occupy the premises for at least 50% of the occupied time over the two years following the closing, and the sale price is $300,000 or less. In this instance, no withholding is required. However, that does not change 1., 2. or 3. above. Dear Bird Talk, Can I import a homemade utility trailer back to Ontario with me? It has never been registered, nor does it have a serial number on it. I bought it partly finished and finished it myself. Do I have to register it in Florida first? Jean Cousineau Balderson, ON Ed.: According to the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV), homemade trailers are not admissible for importation into Canada. Sorry about that. Dear Bird Talk, We spend 180 days in Florida, but are considering cruising home to Vancouver via a cruise leaving Florida, going through the Panama Canal and finishing in Vancouver. Are the days on the ship counted as U.S.? We understand that if we leave Vancouver and go to a U.S. destination and then return to Canada, that we are “in transit.” But if we have been in the U.S. for close to 180 days before departure, are we still in transit?Thank you very much. Jamie McHugh-La West Kelowna, B.C. Ed.: You are deemed to have left the United States on the date of the ship’s departure and should be fine. However, if the ship does not go directly back to Canada and makes a stop in the United States after leaving, then the days must be counted. Dear Bird Talk, Hi, do I need a Working Visa to work as a campground host in a U.S. State Park?Thanks. Gilles Levesque Chicoutimi, QC Ed.: As you mention working for a U.S. State Park, I assume that this would be a paying position. You would not be able to do this without a visa allowing you to work in the U.S. As a visitor, you are not allowed to work in the U.S. and even volunteering can be suspect if the Government considers that you are taking a job from a U.S. citizen. Dear Bird Talk, I read your article in the summer 2018 issue on Amazon Prime. I talked to an Amazon customer service agent and he suggested to me to just get it monthly in Canada and in the U.S. for the time that I am there, then cancel and switch over to the other country. It is a little bit more expensive, but it worked great for me. Gordon Green Peoria, AZ and Prince George, B.C. Ed.: That is what we do and it does work well. Thanks. CSANews | SUMMER 2019 | 11
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