I am looking for personal tax advice for US/Canada. What do you do when you live in both places?

I am a US citizen, with a house in the US, who married a Canadian citizen (Quebec) last year. I spend about half my time in Montreal and the rest in the States, or traveling for business. I am working freelance consulting for firms based in the US, but can work remotely from Canada. I am paid at my US address.

I applied for and just received a permanent resident card for Canada. Do I have to file a Canadian tax return? So far, I have no income in Canada. I do pay taxes in the US.
Are there any restrictions for companies paying me in the States?
Does it matter how much time I spend in either country?
I would like, of course, to minimize my tax burden and avoid paying taxes twice.

If I have a permanent resident card in Canada (received Oct. 2007), can I still claim that US is my home base ?(it is where my house is and where I styaed most of the year). Do the number of days spent in each country make a difference?

Quebec is the highest taxed province in Canada. You may want to seriously look into maintaining a residence in the US and a "cottage" in Canada so you're only a resident of the US and a tourist in Canada. For example someone living in Quebec earning 100k pays about $35k in income tax. (Source: http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf/Can...


Otherwise you'll have to file with both the CRA (and Revenu Quebec) and the IRS. Both countries tax worldwide income. You'll ulitimately end up paying the quebec rate. Under tax treaty each country will credit you for taxes paid to the other country.

All this assumes that you received your permanent residence card in 2007. If it commences in 2008 you don't have to file in Canada until the 2008 tax year.

I just went to a very interesting seminar put on in florida answering all these questions. I am a dual citizen (Canada/US) Realtor in Florida and wanted to learn more to help Canadians who might be interested in purchasing property in Florida.
There is a tax treaty between the US and Canada and I have included the source below. There is no quick answer as it depends on how much time you spend in each place as well as what type of work you do, and maybe even what currency you are paid in. But, the treaty allows you to choose which country you will pay taxes in, and the US is definately cheaper tax wise. You really should check out the services of the company that put on that seminar...Keats,Connelly and Associates...I'm not sure what kind of information I can include in this reply but I have a contact name and number if you would like (and I don't get anything from them for referrals, but I would like them to know where the referral came from anyway) ..they deal with and advise on just those issues, and help plan for people in just your situation.
If you do contact them, please tell them Marie from Tampa (at their recent Naples FL seminar referred you).
Good luck, and you'll be very happy you found this invaluable company! Let me know if you need more information and I'll do my best to provide.