Need advice on Canadian Tax Residency with US job - Cross Border Tax situation

You're dealing with a classic cross-border residency determination issue. Your understanding about marriage status is partially correct - CRA does consider your Dec 31 marital status for some provisions, but tax residency is more complex. For Canadian tax residency, CRA looks at your "residential ties" to Canada. Primary ties include home, spouse/dependents still in Canada, and personal property. Secondary ties include bank accounts, driver's license, health insurance, etc. The fact that your fiancée/wife was on a temporary visitor visa rather than a permanent-type visa in 2024 could suggest your ties to Canada remained strong. What matters most is whether you established stronger residential ties to the US than to Canada when you moved in October. Did you maintain a home in Canada? Did you keep Canadian bank accounts, investments, driver's license, health insurance? These factors often carry more weight than just marital status. Also, check the Canada-US Tax Treaty, Article IV specifically addresses residency tiebreaker rules when both countries could claim you as a resident. This might help your case regardless of what the accountants are saying.

I had almost the exact same situation last year when I moved from Toronto to Seattle for a tech job. The best thing I did was use https://taxr.ai to get clarity on my cross-border tax situation. You upload your documents and their AI analyzes your situation based on the Canada-US tax treaty. In my case, I was able to show I had severed most residential ties with Canada and that helped determine I was a non-resident for Canadian tax purposes after my move date (even though I was in Canada for more than 183 days that year). The detailed analysis they provided on residential ties and the treaty tiebreaker rules saved me over $9K in Canadian taxes! Might be worth checking out since cross-border tax pros charge crazy rates for consultations, and this gave me ammunition to push back on some questionable advice I was getting.

I used taxr.ai for my own Canada-US cross-border situation last month and I'm honestly blown away by how helpful it was. I was so skeptical at first (as you can see from my earlier comment), but I decided to try it since I was getting conflicting advice from two different accountants. The analysis I got was incredibly detailed and specific to my situation. It walked through all the factors CRA considers for residency determination and how the Canada-US tax treaty applied in my case. It even cited specific court cases that were relevant to my situation. What really surprised me was that it flagged some deductions I could take on my US return that both accountants had missed! The treaty has some weird provisions that most tax software doesn't catch. Highly recommend for anyone dealing with cross-border taxation.

If you need to actually talk to CRA about your residency status but can't get through on their international line (which is always busy), I found a service called https://claimyr.com that helped me get through to an agent in less than 10 minutes. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c showing how it works. I spent WEEKS trying to get someone at CRA international tax department on the phone for a similar cross-border question. Their service called CRA for me and when they reached an agent, they connected me immediately. The agent was able to confirm my understanding of my residency status and documented it in my file, which has been super helpful for backing up my position. Might be worth a shot if you want to get clarification directly from CRA rather than just relying on your company's accountants.

I was incredibly skeptical about Claimyr (as you can see from my earlier question), but after another week of failing to reach CRA myself, I tried it yesterday out of desperation. It actually worked exactly as advertised! I was connected to a CRA agent within 7 minutes. The agent reviewed my particular cross-border situation and confirmed that since I had established permanent residence in the US with my spouse, I would be considered a non-resident of Canada for tax purposes from my departure date, despite maintaining some secondary ties like a bank account. The agent also noted this in my file and gave me a reference number. I was shocked at how straightforward it was after weeks of frustration. For anyone dealing with cross-border tax issues, being able to actually speak with CRA and get clarity is invaluable.

One thing to consider that nobody's mentioned yet - look at Form NR73 (Determination of Residency Status). Even if you don't submit it, going through the questions can give you clarity on how CRA would likely view your situation. For cross-border situations like yours, I've found that documenting everything is crucial. Make sure you have records of when you left Canada, entered the US, got your US driver's license, opened US bank accounts, etc. These dates matter for establishing your residency break. Also, don't forget about departure tax if you're deemed to have become non-resident! You'd need to report deemed disposition of certain assets.

Just a quick warning from someone who went through this - be careful about how you handle any Canadian registered accounts while living in the US. TFSAs are especially problematic because the US taxes them and they have complex PFIC reporting requirements. For RRSPs, file Form 8891 with your US return to defer taxation. For Canadian mutual funds in non-registered accounts, be prepared for nightmare PFIC reporting. Also, if you have over $10K total in foreign (Canadian) accounts, don't forget to file FBAR with your US taxes!

The fact that your wife was initially on a tourist visa and then switched to a spousal visa is actually a common scenario. Based on the Canada-US tax treaty, what really matters is where your "permanent home" was available to you after you moved to the US. I went through something similar and was advised that having a lease agreement in the US showing intent to permanently reside there, along with evidence of moving personal belongings, was crucial in establishing US residency for treaty purposes. Also, document when you gave up provincial health insurance - that's a big one that CRA looks at for residency determination.

Cross-border tax situations like yours are incredibly nuanced, and it sounds like you have several factors working in your favor for establishing US residency status. The key thing to understand is that CRA's residency determination isn't just about your marital status or visa type - it's about where your life is actually centered. From what you've described, you have strong indicators of establishing US residency: you moved with clear intent (got the TN visa for work), obtained US driver's license and health insurance immediately, rented out your Canadian property, signed a 12-month US lease, and surrendered provincial health coverage. The fact that your wife was initially on a tourist visa versus a spousal visa is less relevant than the overall picture of your residential ties. What matters more is that you both moved together with the intention of establishing life in the US, regardless of the specific visa categories at the time. I'd recommend getting a second opinion from a cross-border tax specialist who isn't affiliated with your company. The accountants your employer hired may be taking an overly conservative approach that could cost you thousands unnecessarily. Make sure to document everything - dates of departure, lease agreements, utility setup, bank account openings, etc. This documentation will be crucial if CRA ever questions your residency determination. The Canada-US tax treaty is designed to prevent exactly this kind of double taxation scenario, so don't let anyone tell you that you're automatically stuck paying Canadian taxes on your US income just because of visa timing.