Canadian on F-1 (OPT) tax filing - how to foreign tax credit

[violinistforchrist]

Hi all, I'm a Canadian on an F-1 OPT visa in the US, doing my first US tax return. I've got a W-2 and several 1099s for 2023, plus Canadian investment and rental income to report.

I went through Sprintax which gave me an estimated return but no Form 1116 for the Foreign Tax Credit. How do I handle Form 1116?

If anyone's navigated this before, would love some guidance on the forms I need to file and the sequence/process for doing so.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[jjp297]

@violinistforchrist 1) Since you are on a F-1, you only report US sourced income, like form your job.

2) You are still a CDN tax resident for the first 5 years of the F-1 (condition of visa) and report world wide income to Canada, not the US.

3) The rental income, investment income/capital gains go on your CDN tax returns as well as all your US income and that income and taxes paid in the US are a foreign tax critic on your CDN tax returnn, not US tax return.

4) Use a cross border accountant.

 

[violinistforchrist]

@jjp297 TY!!! So you’re saying I don’t file for foreign tax credit in the U.S.; I file it in Canada, so I don’t pay taxes on my U.S. income twice, right?

 

[jjp297]

@violinistforchrist Correct the foreign tax credit gets filed in Canada.

Correct the purpose is so you don't pay tax twice on the same income. Since our our tax rates are higher, you would generally owe a bit, but as a student, you probably have tuition tax credits that would be applied first anyway.

 

[tod56ros]

@jjp297 Also depends if you make over $10,000