Been waiting on cycle 05 for weeks too! From what I've learned lurking here, Thursday nights around midnight EST seem to be the magic time. But honestly, after reading everyone's experiences with taxr.ai, I might just bite the bullet and pay the $5 to get some peace of mind instead of obsessively refreshing every few minutes like I have been 😅

I'm in the exact same situation! Cycle 05 here and I've been refreshing my transcript like it's my job 😤 Based on what everyone's saying, sounds like Thursday nights around midnight EST is when we should see movement. I might have to try that taxr.ai thing too - spending $5 seems way better than losing my mind checking every hour. Has anyone else noticed if there's a pattern to which Thursday nights actually get updates vs maintenance delays?

Just adding in case this helps - for scholarship or fellowship grants to non-resident aliens, the portion for tuition and books isn't taxable, but the portion for living expenses is considered FDAP subject to 30% withholding unless a tax treaty applies. I learned this after receiving a small research stipend as a visiting scholar at a US university. The university withheld 30% automatically from the living allowance portion.

Great question about FDAP income reporting! You're absolutely correct - as a non-resident alien, you generally only need to report FDAP income that's from US sources. Your Canadian accountant's confusion is understandable since this is a specialized area. For your specific situation with dividends from US stocks, these would definitely be US-source FDAP income subject to reporting. The good news is that under the US-Canada tax treaty, dividend withholding is typically reduced from 30% to 15% if you properly complete Form W-8BEN with your broker. One thing to watch out for - make sure your brokerage is applying the correct treaty rate. I've seen cases where non-resident aliens had too much tax withheld because they didn't properly claim treaty benefits, then had to file Form 1040-NR to get a refund. Your Japanese and European dividends, as others have mentioned, aren't reportable to the US - those would be handled under Canadian tax rules as a Canadian resident.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how much do you have to make before you need to report self-employment income? I made like $350 doing some graphic design work last year. Do I even need to file?

This is exactly the situation I found myself in last year! The $275 self-employment tax is likely correct - it caught me completely off guard too since I was used to W-2 jobs where all that stuff is handled automatically. One thing that really helped me was using Schedule C-EZ (if your business expenses are $5,000 or less) instead of the full Schedule C. It's much simpler and still lets you deduct legitimate business expenses to reduce that net self-employment income. Even small things like software you bought for the freelance work, a portion of your internet bill, or supplies can add up and lower that SE tax. Also keep in mind that you can deduct half of the self-employment tax you pay (so about $137 in your case) as an adjustment to income on your next year's return. It doesn't help this year, but it's something to remember going forward. The whole self-employment tax thing is definitely a learning curve when you're coming from W-2 work!

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how the tax treaties between the US and Canada might impact your situation. As a Canadian citizen who's a US tax resident, you might be eligible for certain protections under the US-Canada tax treaty. However, tax treaties generally don't help much with offshore structures in places like the Cayman Islands. In fact, these structures often trigger anti-avoidance provisions in tax laws. My biggest concern would be that this arrangement could potentially be viewed as a tax avoidance scheme by the IRS, especially given the lack of substantial business operations in the offshore jurisdiction. The IRS has become extremely aggressive in pursuing offshore accounts in recent years.

I want to emphasize something that hasn't been fully addressed - the potential criminal penalties for willful failure to report foreign accounts. As someone who went through an offshore voluntary disclosure program, I can tell you the stakes are much higher than just paying additional taxes. The willful failure to file FBAR can result in penalties of up to 50% of the account balance PER YEAR, and in extreme cases, criminal prosecution. Given that you're talking about potentially substantial trading profits, these penalties could be devastating. Also, consider that the IRS has extensive data sharing agreements with financial institutions worldwide. Interactive Brokers, for example, reports account information to the IRS under FATCA requirements, regardless of where your account is domiciled. The idea that offshore accounts provide privacy from the US tax authorities is largely a myth in 2025. My strong recommendation would be to consult with both a US tax attorney specializing in international taxation AND a Canadian tax professional familiar with US treaty provisions before moving forward. The cost of proper planning upfront is minimal compared to the potential penalties and legal fees if this goes wrong.

Just a heads up - if you do need to file an amended return for 2021, you still have time. The deadline is generally within 3 years of the original filing date, so you likely have until April 2025. But I'd get moving on the explanation to the IRS right away to stop any collection actions.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation right now with my 2022 taxes! The IRS is claiming I didn't report about $18k in stock compensation, but like you, it was already included in my W-2. One thing that helped me understand what happened - I called my HR department and they explained that when you have "sell to cover" set up, the company reports the full value of the vested shares as income on your W-2 (which gets taxed as regular income), but then Fidelity also sends a 1099-B to the IRS showing the "sale" of those same shares to cover taxes. The IRS computer systems see both and think you earned the money twice. I'm still working through my response, but my HR rep said this is super common and they deal with it all the time. She recommended I include a letter from HR explaining their stock compensation reporting process along with my W-2 and 1099-B copies. Might be worth reaching out to your HR department too - they probably have template letters for exactly this situation since it happens so frequently with employees who have stock compensation.