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Looks like Uncle Sam is looking for mo’ money.
http://www.taxsupport.ca/usa-canada-border-crossings-will-be-scanned/
Looks like, things will start to change starting July 1, 2014. Under a new agreement, Canada and U.S. border authorities will now scan your passport when you enter and exit their country to determine how long a person has actually been out of their own country of residence in a given year.
Once U.S. and Canada have access to a travel day count for its citizens, both countries can track a person’s physical presence and use it to apply various immigration and tax laws.For U.S.A tax purposes, you can be deemed a resident if you are present in the U.S. for 183 days in the current calendar year or 183 days over a 3 year period. This is done by counting 100% of the days in the current year, plus 1/3 of the days in the first preceding year and 1/6 of the days in the second preceding year. Unless you can claim a closer ties with Canada you will be considered a deemed Tax Residence of USA if you meet the physical count test.
This could really put a damper on snowbirds…as we often day trip to the Us to do shopping and to just get away for awhile…what happens to our provincial medical coverage if we are out of province to long?…not good
We are allowed to be out seven months now, used to be six but it was changed recently. Pretty cool.
Why does the Government stick their nose in everything. Our Homeowner’s Association complained about our 5th wheel being in our driveway! We only had it there 3 days (which is allowed for loading and unloading). Ken sent them a letter back protesting the violation! Makes me want to ditch this fancy fancy subdivision!! 🙁
Control that is what they want to do, Like Ray says just move on, you all are getting ready to be full timers so it will be a lot simpler and enjoyable life. Room for all rvers.aileen
What we need is an app, where you could enter the dates from previous years you where in the USA, and according to today’s date, it could tell you how many days you have left. The rolling calender part of the calculation makes this problematic, as each day you move forward can cause previous days to drop off the 2 and 3 year calculation, ie. a second year day changes to a third year day, which counts less in the calculation. Somebody smarter than me out there?
Should be concerned about the immigration regulations as well.
The 183 day tax rules cover a calendar year, whereas the immigration rules state that a non-resident cannot legally spend more than 182 days in the U.S. over a rolling 12 month period (not a calendar year).
For example, if you, as a snowbird, chose to spend October to March in the U.S., come back to Canada for the spring and summer but then return to the U.S. prior to the following October, you will be in the U.S. illegally. Even if you returned to Canada for a few days between October and March, the immigration clock does not turn off unless you spend enough time in Canada (minimum two week period); U.S. immigration still considers you to be present in the U.S. and merely ‘visiting’ Canada. You can be barred from travelling to the U.S. for a number of years if caught in the country illegally.
You would also be caught under the substantial presence test and therefore deemed a U.S. resident for tax purposes unless you can claim closer ties to Canada.
Well this get ugly real quick for snow birds. Based on what I read you will be limited or over you “allotted” visitor time very quickly. Did not punch in the numbers but as a quick calculation in my head you are limited to about 5 months a year.
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It’s going to be a real mess when they start tracking all this, as tons and tons of snowbirds likely ignore all this, and for good reason, it will make your head explode trying to figure it all out and then when you do a border guard can still decide against you based on whatever reason they think, they have the last say.
I think the southern states are going to put up a pretty big stink when then figure out the money they stand to lose from loss of Canadian snowbirds. I bet they adjust the rules a bit.
I agree with you Ray. The southern states will loose a lot of our $$$. My question is , is it only starting on July 1st re the passport tracking, what about prior to that date? I belong to the Canadian Snowbird Association and I know they are tracking this as well.
Last couple times across they haven’t scanned our passports coming back in to Canada, just asked us a few questions about what we bought and where we traveled, how long we were gone and waved us in, It was pretty casual, so likely they aren’t tracking too closely, but I take it that things change on July 1st and they will scan it every time, and the US and Canada will share the info.
This could do wonders for tourism in Northern Mexico, if the government there did something about the crime levels.
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