Geoflying

The new Entry/Exit data sharing initiative between Canada and the US can easily catch out frequent cross-border travellers who spend more than a total of 120 days in the US in any one year. Before this initiative went into effect exit dates were not tracked and so there was no way that those spending a higher number of days in the US were easily identified.

If you spend more than 120 days in the US total (not just a single stay) in any one year you run the risk of

• being considered a U.S. resident and having to pay taxes on worldwide income
• losing your Canadian residency and their health care
• being deemed illegally in the U.S. and being banned from the country for three to 10 years.

This could easily affect many on this forum unwittingly

For more details see the article at https://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadians-...150000122.html

jjclancy

The consequences aren't new.

All that's happened is that the ease of misrepresenting longer stays as shorter ones has lessened.

karachi

its the US where you probably will have issues. going into and out of US for work more than 120 days wont affect yr OHIP or drivers license. the canadian govt isnt that stupid (despite the Tories).

Yul_voyager

Sure, it makes things more complicated.

There are precise rules about health care for each province. I know in Quebec you have to be at least 183 days in the province but travels shorter than 2 weeks do not count.

Given that Canadians citizen are allowed to stay 6 months in the US without visa, I seriously doubt the fact to stay 120 days in the US in a given year is illegal by itself.

jjclancy

You're right; there are possible (US) tax implications at 120 days but not much else.

Geoflying

Here is a really good presentation from an immigration and tax law firm on this topic

http://www.boughtonlaw.com/wp-conten...tion_Final.pdf

It can get pretty complicated but the point of my posting was to warn frequent flyers to the US that the authorities now have better tools than they did before as a result of the Entry/Exit data sharing to catch those that run afoul of the rules - and I would imagine that a number do so without realising it.

jjclancy

The info is appreciated.

The hyperbolic headline ("unexpected consequences") and inaccurate summary (">120 days deemed illegal") is what we're complaining about.

Yul_voyager

More generally, a good advice for frequent transborder travellers (especially Nexus members) is to know the rules and respect them

Often1

It doesn't help to post that something is "illegal" when it is not. There are tax cosnequences, but those do not make the stay "illegal".

People who have evaded taxes and gotten away with it in the past, may not now. But, that is a choice you have always made. E.g., stay 120+ days and don't file a return.

canadiancow

I didn't realize it was 120 for tax purposes. I thought it was 180.

Not that I've ever been around 120. It's been less than 20 or greater than 340.

After Burner

As a visitor it is 180. Typical poorly researched, sloppy CBC reporting.

bruceba

Not 120 or 180 Google it.

YEGTigger

The problem is that the article is simplifying greatly, probably because most people wouldn't read it if the whole detail was in.

The bottom line is that it's a formula (days this year + 1/3 of last years days + 1/6 of 2 years ago's days > 183). The 120 days in the article is only there because if you spend more than 120 days each year for 3 consecutive years, the formula will put you over the limit.

It also puts you over the limit if you spend >183 days in the US in a single calendar year.

But if you did 170 days this year, 30 next year, then 140 the year after that, you wouldn't be a "tax" resident despite spending more than the 120 in two of those three years.

Plus, even if you crack the formula limit, you can still file a form in advance claiming a "closer connection" to Canada and not pay US taxes.

tcook052

As this is more a general Canada topic than a specific Air Canada or Aeroplan one it's be relocated to the Canada forum for further discussion.

tcook052
AC Forum Moderator

PLeblond

Can anybody confirm the following? As one who lives near the border, crossing over for a quick lunch, of just to drop someone at the airport.

Apparently, even if you spend an hour or two across, its counted as 1 day.