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Old 12-29-2005, 05:42 PM
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Default tax question: Canadian studying in the US

Sorry if this sort of question has come up before (I couldn't find it though). I am a Canadian doing a PhD in Boston. I get a stipend and have a US bank account and SSN, but I pay taxes on the stipend in Canada based on a tax treaty. I am usually in Canada for 5 months per year. As it stands I have a US Neteller account hooked up to my US bank account. I am wondering whether I can/should change this to a Canadian one in order to avoid tax liability in the states. I have been playing for about a year but this is only starting to become an issue now that I'm making significant money through poker. Any advice is much appreciated.
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Old 12-30-2005, 03:12 AM
MexKrax MexKrax is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 24
Default Re: tax question: Canadian studying in the US

I am in almost the same situation as you are. I'm a Canadian citizen and I'm in the US doing a PhD in Madison. From my own surfing on the IRS website it seems that the key issue on whether or not you need to pay taxes on this income is whether or not it could be considered US sourced income. I think it's very clear that any playing you do in Canada doesn't count as US source income even if you withdraw the money into a US bank account. Whether or not your play while in the states counts as US source income is less clear. I haven't been able to find a good answer either way. The way I read to the documents that the IRS provides I wouldn't consider online poker profits US source income, but I am not a legal professional, or any kind of accountant.
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Old 12-30-2005, 10:32 PM
TorontoCFE TorontoCFE is offline
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Brantford, Canada
Posts: 50
Default Re: tax question: Canadian studying in the US

The Canada-US tax treaty is designed to determine which
country you pay taxes to (thus avoiding being taxed on the same income more than once).

Which country you pay taxes on depends on residency for tax purposes. This goes by(basically):
1. Which country you permanently reside in. If both:
2. Where you are a citizen.

As long as you maintain a permenant home in Canada that you intend to return to after school, then you do not have to pay US federal taxes (though you would pay Canadian federal taxes). You may depending on the state have to pay state taxes (though no provincial taxes in Canada).

Complicated bu at least it would be a minor burden.
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Old 12-31-2005, 06:20 PM
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Default Re: tax question: Canadian studying in the US

Thanks to both of you for the responses.

Does anyone know offhand about state tax in Mass.?
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Old 12-31-2005, 06:43 PM
teddyFBI teddyFBI is offline
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 99
Default Re: tax question: Canadian studying in the US

Search my previous posts for a thread that discussed this exact topic around 1 to 2 months ago.

I posted the info i found in that thread, but listen to TOrontoCFE, he's a professional.
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