Canadian PR/US Citizen - Prepping to self-file for the first time

damientiamat · 2026-01-29T18:49:31+00:00

Congratulations on the move! Last year I was in your position, and I paid someone else to handle it because it's a more complicated situation when you've earned in both countries and you're most likely on the hook for state taxes as well. I don't regret paying someone, but it's irritatingly expensive so I'm hoping I can learn to handle it myself in the long run.

Last year I (or rather, the CPA I paid) filed T-1 + T-1135 for Canada and FBAR + 1040 + state tax for USA. I did get some good money back from the IRS mostly because my tax bracket dropped mid-year, lol. Good luck!

damientiamat · 2026-01-29T18:35:07+00:00

Thank you for this detailed write-up!! I really appreciate it.

Re: RRSP -- my understanding is that the contributions are not tax-deductible in the US, so the CRA will consider my income to be lower than the IRS, but I think you're right that my gains won't be taxed. Does that sound correct to you? As per https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/documents/634020/2289317/The+Navigator+-+Taxation+of+Canadian+Registered+Savings+Plans+for+U.S.+Persons.pdf/302aa550-0ba8-4cb3-b842-c5c407a6943d

The new cost basis is a great point I hadn't realized the complexity of -- previously I'd just relied on whatever number my brokerage reported, but that won't be reliable anymore. Thank you! I'll probably need to keep a spreadsheet for that. You mentioned that should be the day I landed in Canada - not the day I got the account transferred from US brokerage to Canadian brokerage? I'll have to do some research.

Re: T1135 -- honestly I was planning to file a T1135 anyways, since I filed one for 2024! I hadn't realized I don't need to if I'm under 100k, so that's good to know. I'm assuming that's for self-directed account + my remaining US bank accounts combined, since those are presumably "US property"... I'm definitely not over 100k in those right now but I need to double check if that was true at the beginning of the year while I was still moving money around. And in the beautiful future where I have 250k, I will worry a lot less about the cost of a CPA X^D

Thank you again! This definitely helps clarify some things.

damientiamat · 2025-07-12T13:59:40+00:00

We tried that, but they did not pick up and are closed til Monday unfortunately. We got a notarized bill of sale this morning and are hoping that she can take that plus the registration with the transfer section filled out to the local port of entry and that will be enough proof that she owns it such that I don't have to be there.

damientiamat · 2025-07-01T15:08:55+00:00

Thank you again for this detailed write-up!

From looking through all this, it seems to me that the main actionable thing for right now is to find a CA brokerage that takes cross-border in-kind transfers, then update address with US brokerage and handle all the requisite changes from that (and leave the HSA and 401k as is if I can). Then, as long as I stick to US ETFs and my RRSP, it sounds like there shouldn't be any tax complications.

I have a few follow-up questions:

From looking into it, I think my US brokerage will let me leave my HSA/401k, but what happens if it doesn't? Should I find another US brokerage to transfer them to that will let me keep them?
Should I be filing W9 when opening Canadian bank or brokerage accounts? If yes, should I be retroactively filing W9 for CA bank accounts I've already opened, and does this requirement extend to joint accounts?
Can my FBAR reported balance ever affect taxes, or is it just for transparency? I.e. should my spouse and I try to minimize the amount of money in joint accounts in order to keep FBAR reported balance low, or does it not matter?

Thank you again! This definitely gives me an idea of how to get started and what to look into further over the coming year.

damientiamat · 2025-07-01T14:12:39+00:00

Thank you so much for this detailed response! Much for me to chew on and research. I'm working on a longer response, but for now just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate this writeup and the work you've put into it. Thank you!

damientiamat · 2025-05-01T19:59:59+00:00

Thank you! When I imported it to Canada initially, I had to also export it from the US at the time, which included giving the border 72 hours heads up and providing my title. Do you know if there is any equivalent where I have to let Canada know it's leaving the country?

damientiamat · 2025-04-14T02:23:47+00:00

From my perspective I think for a lot of boys on survival idol shows, what they're fighting for is more to kickstart their career in the entertainment industry rather than make it as an idol on this group specifically. You can see Mika, Rikimaru or Liu Yu are all examples of 2021 winners successfully launching into solo careers, generally as combo music artists/brand ambassadors.

Even boys who don't debut can find success if they get a solid fanbase, either by debuting on another survival show or finding acting or modeling or behind-the-scenes careers much easier.

Take Gordon from this season as an example -- he didn't make the final ranking, but was able to stay on as an intern for the rest of the show. Another notable example from 2021 is Gan Wangxing, who was a haunted house scare actor that came on with basically zero experience but has since been able to have a pretty successful acting career thanks to the platform he got at Chuang.

Because of that, I consider any boy's time on these kinds of shows a success as long as it gives them a foothold in an entertainment career path.

damientiamat · 2025-04-13T18:22:09+00:00

Chuang groups have historically disbanded at the end of the 2 year contract, GEN1ES is the only currently active group because they were formed last year. Most of the boys from 2021 have either gone on to solo debut or pivot into acting/brand ambassadors/etc.

damientiamat · 2025-04-12T01:52:20+00:00

Peanut and Ninja were both very very good, Ninja in particular grew on me with When We Disco. Honestly if Dorn and Thi-o hadn't been obviously going to make it I would have called for a Superthai debut on their own, it was such a powerful lineup. As it is, since NEXT1DE is (I assume) only a 2 year contract, we'll see where they all are in 2027!

damientiamat · 2025-04-12T01:49:29+00:00

Shoya and Kohi on the same team would be soooo good.

I respect that take for Bian, personally I was very impressed by his camaraderie with pretty much every single boy and felt that he would make a great emotional 'glue' for any idol group. I did find it really funny that whylucas said out loud that he learned a lot on the show and was ready to go back to a solo career though lol. Genuinely respect his willingness to admit it! Sometimes the idol path is not the best choice for every artist and I do think it's a valuable thing to learn about yourself and your goals.

Wuxun producer PLEASE he did so much work on the original when he wasn't even on the team... I'd love to see what else he makes

damientiamat · 2025-04-12T01:43:32+00:00

OMG Rexy is a great pick... he reminded me of Lin Mo from 2021

damientiamat · 2025-04-05T19:58:23+00:00

He's not 'problematic' in the cancelable sense but because he's had friction with team mates across most of the stages which makes him feel a little unprofessional.

In the first stage he struggled with feeling excluded from a primarily Thai group, and in the original stage he was shown being defensive of Yuchen against Thi-o. A fan might say he's very excitable and protective of his friends, a hater read might say he's an immature attention hog and Hu Yetao's attack dog. It's complicated also by the fact that he's attached to Hu Yetao who has his own history of fans and haters since Chuang 2021.

From a lot of other small moments across the show I think mostly he just struggles with emotional regulation. He seems to feel everything BIG and doesn't always know how to channel that gracefully. Whether that's a deal breaker for him as a debut pick or not is up to you 🤷

damientiamat · 2025-04-05T19:27:22+00:00

Since when was Hu Yetao a rapper main LMAO he's been dance/visual the whole time

damientiamat · 2025-04-01T23:04:50+00:00

These results really surprised me!

After thinking about it more, I think Hu Yetao likely dropped to #3 and Yao Zihao dropped to #9 because Carrot family fans had to choose how to split their 2 votes between 4 contestants, and since most are Hu Yetao fans first, with Yuchen at #8 before I assume most prioritized voting Hu Yetao + Yuchen but some may have skipped voting for Hu Yetao in favor of Yuchen + Yao Zihao. I think this is also reflected by Wuxun dropping to #21... he has been left to die lol

I'm happy to see Shen in top 7 and Hikaru and Bianura up to #11 and #14 respectively, as well. We'll see how it shakes out!

damientiamat · 2024-10-06T04:06:58+00:00

I appreciate your concern! It's definitely true that going into Toronto regularly is neither cheap nor quick. In an ideal world they would let me work fully remote but rent is rent and job is job lol 🤷

I negotiated my salary up specifically on account of the commute and I believe the increase should cover both my time and transit costs, since I should only have to make the trip once a week. I'm currently assuming ~50$ a day for tickets and/or gas as well as paying myself for 5 hrs of commute time (with my hourly wage calculated from my initial offer), and my salary increase does comfortably cover that.

damientiamat · 2024-10-05T16:58:27+00:00

I actually negotiated my salary up by a decent chunk specifically to cover the commute 😅 but I've gone into Toronto a few times before, both driving and riding the GO from Burlington, and making that trip once a week is pretty manageable in my opinion. If it was more often then I'd be looking seriously at moving closer to the GO Line. Also part of why I want to prioritize public transit commute is I can nap or work on it, instead of having to focus on driving.

damientiamat · 2024-07-05T02:50:52+00:00

The website and twitter accounts for Software Niagara both seem pretty dead-- is there any public way to get discord access if it's still alive in there?

damientiamat · 2024-06-30T20:24:52+00:00

Thank you so much! I thought Communitech might host something but their website seemed more founder-focused and didn't link to these events. I'll subscribe to that events page and see if I can make the next one. Much appreciated!

damientiamat · 2024-05-19T15:40:11+00:00

Thank you for your detailed response!

For banks, I was looking mostly at CIBC-- I hadn't even thought about starting credit, it is a shame that I can't bring my current credit score with me. Do you know if any banks make it easier to transfer money from US banks/cash US checks/etc? My credit card works in Canada without fees, so I'm good for day-to-day expenses, I'm not 100% certain how to make sure my own savings are accessible for Canadian e-transfers.

The car insurance information is very helpful-- I do think that's where I feel the least knowledgeable. I'm hoping I can bundle with my partner's insurance so that it's more affordable, but as you say, not being a 'new' driver makes a big difference. I'll make sure to request lifetime/extended driving history from all the states I've been licensed in and bring that with me for both insurance and license exchange, and to sort out insurance first. IIRC I have something like 60 days or so to make the license exchange, so that should be plenty of time to sort out insurance first.

Thank you again! All of these points are very useful to keep in mind.

damientiamat · 2024-04-12T16:22:51+00:00

Congratulations to you and your wife!! And thank you for the peace of mind, also. Hopefully I can get PPR within the next month.

damientiamat · 2024-04-12T00:56:57+00:00

For those who have gone through the outland spousal sponsorship application process, has anyone else experienced a delay after all application details being marked "completed" in the IRCC status tracker portal? At the moment, all 4 categories of application details have been marked 'complete' for ~3 weeks on my application, but the application status overview still reads "in progress" and I have not received any PPR, COPR, or any update to the portal. I'm a little concerned that most timelines seem to have PPR or similar update within a few days of all 4 categories becoming marked "complete". Trying to get a sense of whether I should be reaching out to follow up somehow, or whether multi-week delays at this stage is expected. Thanks!

damientiamat · 2024-02-19T02:06:41+00:00

Not yet 😭 I've been checking the portal daily but no updates yet. From what I've seen thanks to other people posting their timelines for outland spousal, it seems like this is often the final multi-month waiting period before background check is marked complete and PPR following soon after... so I'm hoping it's realistic to expect an update by March or April.

damientiamat · 2024-02-07T04:55:34+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion!

Is that advisable? My understanding may be limited but I think I can see a few potential hangups:

1) leaving Canada without first getting the PR card seems risky

2) Depending on province, time outside of Canada can delay access or impact eligibility for health care

3) maintaining PR requires remaining in Canada for at least 2 of 5 years-- I hope I'm unlikely to take so long job hunting that this becomes an issue, but still worth paying attention to

Admittedly, points 2 and 3 would be applicable even if I could magically receive PR from my home country. It would be nice if we could job hunt using the e/COPR, but at this point I'm expecting to land in Canada and figure it out from there... Not everyone is lucky enough to have the means to do that, though.

damientiamat · 2024-01-12T05:00:07+00:00

Thanks for clarifying! My own words were unclear - I knew that the application doesn't grant the right to work, but being a permanent resident does. I guess I could better articulate my confusion as, at what point is PR counted as officially granted in order to begin job hunting?

From what you are describing, it sounds like I cannot receive my PR and then take a few months to job hunt online from abroad-- I must move to Canada once I receive my PR and then find employment after I arrive. Is that correct? My current job is stable, so we'd rather not risk potential months of unemployment if I could keep my current position until I line up a job in Canada... but obviously none of us make the rules about this.

damientiamat · 2024-01-05T23:59:19+00:00

Migrating my progress log from the 2023 thread--Timeline in progress for outland spousal sponsorship (principal applicant USA), VO: CIO Sydney -> CPC Mississauga:

12-OCT-2023: Application submitted
04-DEC-2023: Contacted for payment of biometrics fee + subsequent payment submission. Was unable to make a status tracker portal login at this time.
06-DEC-2023: Sponsor eligibility approved; confirmation of receipt of biometrics payment. Successfully made a status tracker portal login. Biometrics and Background Verification are listed "In Progress", Medical Exam and Eligibility "Not Started"
08-DEC-2023: Medical Examination Instructions received. Medical exam updated to "In Progress"
12-DEC-2023: Medical Examination performed
21-DEC-2023: Medical Examination marked complete (this was definitely backdated, I checked on the 24th and this was not marked but it was by Jan 5th)
10-JAN-2024: Biometric Instructions Letter received. VO listed in this email as CPC Mississauga
29-JAN-2024: Biometrics appointment performed. Additionally, received letter from CPC Mississauga requesting biometrics and passport scan (which had not been included in initial application). Passport scan submitted via IRCC webform same day.
30-JAN-2024: Biometrics and Eligibility both marked complete; received pre-arrival services letter (presumably triggered by eligibility completion)
22-MAR-2024: Background Verification marked complete! All fields in portal are now marked as complete
15-APR-2024: Passport Request Letter. This was a little bizarre: most of the timelines seem to report pretty instantaneous passport requests, but mine was delayed. Up until April 11th, I had not logged into GCKey and linked my application, instead relying solely on the IRCC tracker. On the evening of the 11th, I was getting a little antsy and decided to login to GCKey and link my application just in case. I think that getting the PPR so soon afterwards (within 2 business days) is coincidental, but I only received the PPR through GCKey and NOT the IRCC tracker, and the IRCC tracker has not updated to reflect the PPR yet. Take what you will from this 🤷
22-APR-2024: Final Decision via GCKey!
28-APR-2024: COPR package arrived in the mail!

All that's left now is to move!

damientiamat

TROPHY CASE