QUESTION: Canadian citizen, I lived and worked in Canada from 1967 to 1997. Moved to Buffalo, NY and have worked for the same employer since June 1997. Paid full CPP in Canada, paid full FICA in the US. Applied for early retirement from Canada - have approx. $600/mo. Applied for early retirement from the US - have approx. $223/mo. The US is applying the WEP to my US Social Security. I worked for each country separately and qualified for each pension separately, not requiring credits from either country to qualify - why would the WEP apply to me? I did not work for any government agencies - all private employers. I believe they are applying the WEP in error to my situation. Can you advise if they are correct? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- david ingram replies: My understanding is that if you have not worked in the US social Security system for 30 years, the WEP applies. And it would apply under the same circumstances if you were a school teacher who had moved form Florida to Oklahoma. I confess that i have never done the calculation myself. My understanding is that Robert Keats at: http://keatsconnelly.com/moving_to_us.aspx Has been dealing with these for a long time and you might want to contact him. Another reader named Harry ?? sent me some information and observations but I do not seem to have it easily available. Maybe he can resend it to me and I will pass it along. These following observations may help as well" David, Your statement: WEP only applies if you paid into another system and not into FICA for 30 years or more. Is not correct! I lived & worked in Canada for 5 years before moving back to the US. When I applied for SS at age 62 with over 30 years of FICA contributions, I got whacked with WEP, not for income from CPP (for which I have not yet applied,) but for a Canadian private annuity from the University for which I worked. It didn't seem quite fair, so I protested and got it reviewed, to no avail. I was also told that if I apply and got any CPP payments, I must also inform SS and my payments would be further reduced. BTW: I use your former colleague, Gary (in Texas) to do my tax preparations. ------------------------------------------ david ingram replies: The reason you are / were penalized is that Canadian University pensions are 'blended' pensions and there is a CPP component. It is the same problem US teachers have between Florida and Oklahoma. When the Canada Pension Pan was brought in in 1966, University professors objected strongly to making new payments because 'professors' were professionals with University pensions and the CPP was aimed at lowly non-professional employees. As a consequence, University pension premiums were reduced by the amount of the CPP premiums and the two were blended and both fall under the WEP legislation. I am not a WEP specialist by any means. I have NEVER attempted the calculation. However, my understanding is that you will always get more even if there is a clawback. david ingram -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Behalf Of US / Canada Income Tax Help - CEN-TAPEDE Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 2:20 AM To: CENTAPEDE; jurock Subject: US CANADA Social Security - WEP clawback if less than 30 years - international non-resident cross border income tax help estate family trust assistance expert preparation & immigration consultant david ingram, income trusts experts on rentals mutual funds QUESTION: I am a Canadian citizen living and working in the US. I just got my Permanent Residency this year through marriage to a US citizen and plan to work in the US for the next 30 years. My husband and I then plan to retire to Canada and we want to maximize our social security benefits. I am the high-earner (and green card holder) so my social security benefit will be important to our quality of life as retirees. I understand that if I retire to Canada as a permanent resident, not only will I need to maintain permanent residency,but I will also only receive half of the social security benefit while living in Canada. My question is, if I get my US citizenship will I receive the full social security benefit when we retire to Canada? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------david ingram replies; Since the US social Security Administration and 5 or 6 Presidential candidates don't really know what is happening with social security, next year, it would presumptuous of me to guess what s going to happen 30 years from now. However, if you were retiring today with thirty years of contributions to the Social Security system, you would receive 30/40 of the maximum pension you had qualified for because you have to contribute for 40 years to get a full pension. If you moved to Canada, there would not be any reduction but Canada always taxes 85% of it whereas at incomes of under $35,000 for a couple and $25,000 for a single person, the US does not tax any social security benefits. Above that there is a floating scale until the US also taxes 85% o f the amount received. HISTORY Now in 1995, Canada only taxed 50% of Social Security, in 1996 and 1997, Canada did not tax social security, and from 1998 on, Canada is taxing 85%. I do not have a clue what it will be in 2038. Now the 85% rule does not mean that Canada will take 85% as tax. In today's dollars, if your gross income was under $35,000 and $10,000 of that was social security, only $8,500 would be taxable and the tax would be a maximum of about 24% (depending upon the province) or $2,040. In addition, you can claim a $2,000 pension income deduction amount which would reduce your tax by a further 24% of 2,000 or $480 making a net Canadian tax to you on $10,000 of ($2040 - $480) $1,560, a far cry from the 50% you suggest in your question. Even if your Canadian income was $50,000 each, you would only b paying about $2,500 tax on the $10,000 Social Security. Now that was easy because your question said 30 years. If you pay in to FICA (Use Social Security) for less than 30 years, there is a bit of a clawback under WEP (the Windfall Elimination Provision). This has nothing to do with Canada per se. It would apply to a US citizen school teacher who worked for 20 years in Florida and moved to Oklahoma for another 25 years. Because one of those states has its own Pension fund and its teacher employees pay into the state plan instead of Social Security, just as people who work in Canada pay into Canada Pension Plan instead of FICA. The assumption is that the other pension makes up for the clawback under WEP but that is just not true. However, there is a move to cancel the WEP and hopefully it will not apply next year let alone 30 years from now. Note that WEP does not apply if you only paid in for 25 years because that is all you worked. WEP only applies if you paid into another system and not into FICA for 30 years or more. This older q & a will give you some more information and a look at the US/Canada Social Security Totalization Agreement. Article XVIII of the US Canada Income Tax Treaty also applies. taxman at centa.com: Please see bottom of message if you wish to unsubscribe.------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTION: I am a Canadian citizen who left Canada to work in the USA for 5 years. I have since returned to Canada where I plan to stay. I was wondering if the money I paid into Social Security while in the states is lost or is there a way to transfer the money back to Canada?? ------------------------------------------ david ingram replies: This older Q & A might help QUESTION: Hi David, I have been working in USA for last 10 years under TN visa and have been paying FICA etc in US but have not filed return to Canada until 2006. Can I benefit from all the FICA payments later or should I find a way/if there is any way to transfer it to Canadian retirement? Thanks __________________________________________________________________________ david ingram replies: Answered many times - just last week in fact, and reproduced here with a slight improvement suggested by Andrew Nelson ----------------------- QUESTION: My apologies if this questions have asked many times before.I could not find right and easy answer for this. I am a Canadian citizen working in USA under TN visa for last 2 yrs. I wonder what will happen for social security tax i pay in USA.Does it goes to Canadian social security.Is it possible to get refund ? Thanks in advance. __________________________________________________________ david ingram replies; The US Canada Social Security Totalization Agreement means that you will be able to collect Social Security from the US when you retire whether you have 1 year ( technically 6 quarters which can be earned from July to June which is one year but if you started working on Jan 1, you would need to work 1 year and another $2,000 or so in another year to qualify. For 2007, you need just short of $1,000 of earnings to qualify for one quarter.) The actual agreement in all its glory CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/canada.html SUGGESTED PRICE GUIDELINES - May 17, 2008 david ingram's US / Canada Services US / Canada / Mexico tax, Immigration and working Visa Specialists US / Canada Real Estate Specialists My Home office is at: 4466 Prospect Road North Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V7N 3L7 Cell (604) 657-8451 - (604) 980-0321 Fax (604) 980-0325 Calls welcomed from 10 AM to 9 PM 7 days a week Vancouver (LA) time - (please do not fax or phone outside of those hours as this is a home office) expert US Canada Canadian American Mexican Income Tax service help. email to taxman at centa.com www.centa.com www.david-ingram.com pert US Canada Canadian American Mexican Income Tax service and help. David Ingram gives expert income tax service & immigration help to non-resident Americans & Canadians from New York to California to Mexico family, estate, income trust trusts Cross border, dual citizen - out of country investments are all handled with competence & authority. Phone consultations are $450 for 15 minutes to 50 minutes (professional hour). Please note that GST is added if product remains in Canada or is to be returned to Canada or a phone consultation is in Canada. ($472.50 with GST for in person or if you are on the telephone in Canada) expert US Canada Canadian American Mexican Income Tax service and help. This is not intended to be definitive but in general I am quoting $900 to $3,000 for a dual country tax return. $900 would be one T4 slip one W2 slip one or two interest slips and you lived in one country only (but were filing both countries) - no self employment or rentals or capital gains - you did not move into or out of the country in this year. $1,200 would be the same with one rental $1,300 would be the same with one business no rental $1,300 would be the minimum with a move in or out of the country. These are complicated because of the back and forth foreign tax credits. - The IRS says a foreign tax credit takes 1 hour and 53 minutes. $1,600 would be the minimum with a rental or two in the country you do not live in or a rental and a business and foreign tax credits no move in or out $1,700 would be for two people with income from two countries $3,000 would be all of the above and you moved in and out of the country. This is just a guideline for US / Canadian returns We will still prepare Canadian only (lives in Canada, no US connection period) with two or three slips and no capital gains, etc. for $200.00 up. However, if you have a stack of 1099, or T3 or T4A or T5 or K1 reporting forms, expect to pay an average of $10.00 each with up to $50.00 for a K1 or T5013 or T5008 or T101 --- Income trusts with amounts in box 42 are an even larger problem and will be more expensive. - i.e. 20 information slips will be at least $350.00 With a Rental for $400, two or three rentals for $550 to $700 (i.e. $150 per rental) First year Rental - plus $250. A Business for $400 - Rental and business likely $550 to $700 And an American only (lives in the US with no Canadian income or filing period) with about the same things in the same range with a little bit more if there is a state return. Moving in or out of the country or part year earnings in the US will ALWAYS be $900 and up. TDF 90-22.1 forms are $50 for the first and $25.00 each after that when part of a tax return. 8891 forms are generally $50.00 to $100.00 each. 18 RRSPs would be $900.00 - (maybe amalgamate a couple) Capital gains *sales) are likely $50.00 for the first and $20.00 each after that. Catch - up returns for the US where we use the Canadian return as a guide for seven years at a time will be from $150 to $600.00 per year depending upon numbers of bank accounts, RRSP's, existence of rental houses, self employment, etc. Note that these returns tend to be informational rather than taxable. In fact, if there are children involved, we usually get refunds of $1,000 per child per year for 3 years. We have done several catch-ups where the client has received as much as $6,000 back for an $1,800 bill and one recently with 6 children is resulting in over $12,000 refund. Email and Faxed information is convenient for the sender but very time consuming and hard to keep track of when they come in multiple files. As of May 1, 2008, we will charge or be charging a surcharge for information that comes in more than two files. It can take us a valuable hour or more to try and put together the file when someone sends 10 emails or 15 attachments, etc. We had one return with over 50 faxes and emails for instance. This is a guideline not etched in stone. If you do your own TDF-90 forms, it is to your advantage. However, if we put them in the first year, the computer carries them forward beautifully. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.centa.com/CEN-TAPEDE/centapede-us/attachments/20080722/c5f1bf53/attachment-0001.html
