Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
You and your wife have to file but do you have to pay any American taxes or is it just a big nuisance?
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As of yet we haven't had to pay US taxes so it's mostly a nuisance, especially considering we also have to file in Canada and Australia. However, the other thing that it has forced us to do is move our money from our TFSAs to RSPs. The IRS doesn't recognize the Canadian "Tax Free Savings Account" as being free from US tax and if we still had active TFSAs we'd likely have to pay US tax on the interest, which of course, is the exact opposite intention of TFSAs.
So, the impact hasn't been huge but it bothers me on principle that a foreign government can essentially arbitrarily force me, a Canadian living in Australia with no formal ties to the US, to file a tax return. It's really just another form of colonialism in my opinion.
Frankly, I think the people that are ultimately at fault for this are:
1) The US right wingers (including clowns like Cruz) who insist on keeping federal taxes lower on millionaires in the US than in any other developed nation.
2) The Canadian government for allowing the IRS to steamroll them with nary a whimper. Of course, they're not just going after 'US citizens' living in Canada but also everywhere in the world.
3) The Obama administration for not sticking to their guns and also for allowing the IRS to run roughshot around the world.