David, your site has a wealth of information for the
border crosser, but after hours of combing I haven't
seen anything that applies to my particular situation.
I am a US Citizen currently employed in Portland, OR
by a US Company.
Last week I gave notice, intending to move to Montreal to live with my girlfriend and seek work in Vermont.
My company asked me to be creative and come up with a way to continue to work for them despite being on the
other side of the continent. So I thought up two possible solutions:
1) They continue to employ me and I set up an office in Montreal to telecommute, returning to Portland
every third month.
2) I become self-employed, they hire me as an independent contractor and I do computer work for them
from Montreal, and eventually, from Vermont.
>From reading the material on your site I have an inkling I will need to pay Canadian and U.S. tax in
either situation. My main question is, do I need a Canadian Work Visa for either of these two situations?
Question 2, Will my employer be subject to Canadian tax law under option 1?
I appreciate your advise and please feel free to print this in your newsletter as you see fit.
Regards,
J
------------------------------------------------
david ingram replies:
You need (or should have) a Canadian visa to live with your girlfriend.
To be a visitor to Canada, you should still have a residence in the US.
However, having a job in Portland and returning every third month for a
bit would leave you looking like a visitor if you do it correctly.
You would not set up an office without a visa, it is too public. You would just
do as I am doing now, work from a computer in your living room, den or bedroom.
You would need a Canadian Work visa if you set up an office or act as a self-
employed person in Canada.
If you just work as now a work visa is not an immediate necessity although I guess
that the official answer is that you need a visa to come and live with your girlfriend.
If you are just coming to visit for a month and not "live" with her, you do not
need a working or a living visa, you are simply a visitor.
Now to the tax issues. Tax law and immigration law are different. You can be working
in Canada illegally and still have to pay tax.
As soon as you spend more than 183 days sleeping in Canada, you become taxable
on your world income retroactively to the first day. Taxation is (for the most part)
dependent upon where you perform the work, not where it is paid from.
So, as a resident of Quebec, commuting to Portland, you would need to file an
Oregon non-resident return, a US federal return, a Canadian T1 and a Quebec Provincial return.
Glad to look after them for you.
I am not an immigration consultant for Quebec, but coincidently just came from meeting
with Richard Kurland, one of Vancouver and Montreal's foremost (and most quoted) immigration people.
I would be glad to arrange your introduction.
If your company opened an office in Montreal and transferred you that would be one way but then
they would have a Canadian Tax return liability.
The simplest would be for you to become a freelancer and just work out of the living room while
you are deciding your relationship. Then, if all goes well, you can be sponsored by your conjugal partner,
common law wife, or legal wife if she decides to make an honest man out of you.
You should likely buy an hour of my time with a phone consultation. $350 Cdn and likely cheap at
twice the price for what you want to do.
======================
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Disclaimer: This question has been answered
without detailed information or consultation and
is to be regarded only as general comment.
Nothing in this message is or should be construed
as advice in any particular circumstances. No contract
exists between the reader & the author and any and all
non-contractual duties are expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from a competent financial, or real estate planner or advisor & appropriately qualified legal practitioner, tax or immigration specialist in connection with personal or business affairs such as at www.centa.com.
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