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I only have citizenship of Canada. I work for a US company on TN Status. I commute daily from home in Canada to office in US and back. I do not reside in the US. I get a W2 and file taxes with the IRS every year. I have property and equity only in Canada.

My Canadian bank is asking me a question if I am a US person for tax purposes or not? I believe that I am not a US person for tax purposes.

Can someone advise me on this?

smci
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Keerikkattu Chellappan
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    Would not the bank and the IRS be the first ones to ask? What value does any answer you get here have? Would you say when you are audited in 5 years "but I got this answer on money SE from this guy with 14.5k rep that said I'm not!" ?? – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jun 02 '21 at 13:03
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    @Peter-ReinstateMonica I think it's safe to assume that since their bank is the one that first asked the question it's a sign they don't know the answer. – Logarr Jun 02 '21 at 14:00
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    @Logarr They don't know the client's exact circumstances. Given those they may know the answer. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jun 02 '21 at 14:11
  • Get a copy of the instructions attached to the non-resident and partial year resident tax forms. If it's like it was when I had a TN (quite a while ago), all the rules are there. As a TN, you are neither a citizen nor a resident alien. Instead, you are a "temporary, non-resident alien" (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-aliens). Remember, you need to pay Canadian taxes on your world wide income - but the tax treaties will keep you from being double-taxed even if you need to pay US taxes (which I suspect you will) – Flydog57 Jun 03 '21 at 05:45
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    My first thought when I read the title was, "how does he commute to Tennessee every day???" :D – RonJohn Jun 03 '21 at 12:46
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    @RonJohn: A TN status comes from Trade NAFTA. It's the successor status to what was called TC status back in the early 1990s when there was a Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_Free_Trade_Agreement) which was replaced by NAFTA a few years later. TN status has very a very light-weight application mechanism (show up at the border with a passport, some papers and money, fill in a form and presto). It allows Mexican and Canadian professionals access to work in temporary jobs as non-resident aliens (though they can live in the US) – Flydog57 Jun 03 '21 at 23:55

1 Answers1

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Basically, you are a US person if you are a US citizen or "resident alien" for tax purposes. You are a resident alien if you pass the Substantial Presence Test or the Green Card Test. Since you don't have a green card, it's just the Substantial Presence Test.

In Publication 519, there is a section on regular commuters from Canada or Mexico. It says that for regular commuters from Canada or Mexico, you do not count the days where you commute to work in the US.

If you exclude the days where you commute to work in the US, you likely do not have enough days of presence in the US to pass the Substantial Presence Test, and therefore I believe you are not a resident alien, and not a US person.

user102008
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    As a note, if you are still unsure or have reservations about your status, speak with a professional. They will be able to better advise you than anyone on an internet Q&A website. – Anoplexian Jun 01 '21 at 14:55
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    @Anoplexian While your comment is accurate, this answer is well-sourced directly to an IRS reference, and it summarizes the data there without stepping outside of the IRS's guidance. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jun 01 '21 at 18:30
  • @Grade'Eh'Bacon Look, that's great and all, really. I'm not saying this is wrong, but if you're UNCOMFORTABLE about your financial state of being, the people on this site are NOT QUALIFIED or NOT HIRED to provide financial or legal advise. When the alternative could be breaking the law, a professional can tell you best. (As a note, I upvoted) – Anoplexian Jun 07 '21 at 15:01
  • @Anoplexian I hear you, but I think that caveat could basically apply to any tax question on this site, and of all such answers, I think this one is incredibly direct in its sourcing and conclusion, so I don't think it's so emphatically necessary here compared to elsewhere. The fact that Publication 519 is so directly applicable to OP's exact situation is important in how trustworthy the advice is to someone less sure of their situation. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jun 07 '21 at 15:58
  • @Grade'Eh'Bacon I agree, but I feel that because it's well sourced, it should have the disclaimer, rather than despite it. If something were to happen and the OP was unsure, or uncomfortable, or whatnot and someone else came across this question and took it as gospel, that could cause some issues. – Anoplexian Jun 07 '21 at 16:48
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    @Anoplexian Maybe this is just an industry thing I've grown too used to, but I see the caveats listed there in the answer: "...you likely do not have..." and "... therefore I believe you are not...". Seems pretty typical. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jun 07 '21 at 17:35