Bird Talk Dear Bird Talk, If we are in the U.S., does a 33-day stay in Thailand (flying out of LAX) come off of our 183 days allowed? Ryan Powell Aldersyde, AB Ed.: No. Since you will be leaving North America (Canada, United States & Mexico) for longer than 30 days, the 33-day trip to Thailand should not be included in your count for days spent in the United States. Dear Bird Talk, This summer, we spent 16 days in the states. Then we were back in Canada for 16 days. Following this, we were back in the states for another 14 days. We actually were on U.S. soil for only 30 days. Our friend says that there needs to be a specific time back in Canada, otherwise it is all counted as 46 days in the states? Fact or fiction? Can you please clarify the rules? Robert Bordun Red Deer, AB Ed.: Your friend is correct. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer processing your re-entry may treat this time as a continuous trip, as you were not outside of the United States for at least 30 days before returning. Dear Bird Talk, Why can’t we Canadian snowbirds be treated with greater acknowledgement of the impact that we have on the American economy? Instead, we are restricted to 183 days. Even if we travel back to Canada for Xmas, the time out of the U.S. is still counted towards the 183 days. Canada is U.S.’s closest ally and largest trading partner. The southern U.S. border is overrun with illegal immigrants, while we snowbirds line up and obey all laws and spend untold millions of dollars. I own my townhouse and pay property tax, but we don’t seem to garner the acknowledgement of our impact. It must now be going on six or seven years that the Snowbird Association has been attempting to increase the allowable time which we can spend in the U.S. with no luck. Even with the exchange rate, we look forward to heading down to our home in Florida. But the lack of progress with the snowbird visa and the unreasonable counting of days back to Canada are both beginning to have an effect on our future plans. We think that, as Canadians, we should be better acknowledged for our contribution to the economies in which we spend our undervalued money. We do not travel to the U.S. to take anything. We spend, to enhance their local economies. Robert (Bob) Gould Renfrew, ON Ed.: We couldn’t agree with you more, Bob. And the CSA is working on it! Dear Bird Talk, We have a rental property in Arizona and file a U.S. tax return each year. In Canada, we have registered (TFSA & RRSP) and non-registered investments in securities, which include U.S.-based companies. We pay withholding tax on our dividends earned. Do we need to add this income and tax paid to our U.S. tax filing? I am concerned about doing so, because we declare our U.S. income on our Canadian tax filing, so then we will be paying Canadian tax on RRSP income and then paying tax on it again when it is withdrawn from the RRSP. On the other hand, I don’t want to improperly file our U.S. returns and risk, in a worst-case scenario, being denied entry to the U.S. Jeffrey Maw Parkland County, AB Ed.: If the registered and non-registered accounts are held in Canadian financial institutions, then the proceeds from dividends earned or the gains realized from the sale of the investments do not need to be reported to the IRS. 6 | www.snowbirds.org
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