If you live in the U.S. and have family in Canada, you may be wondering what happens if you receive an inheritance from a Canadian estate. Here is a reader question that I recently answered on this topic:
Question: I live in the US (green card holder). My family lives in Canada. One Canadian family member will likely pass away this year (all assets are in Canada). I would like to understand how this impacts my taxes, but am having problems finding info on this. Do you know of any material I can read to help me understand how I will be taxed etc?
How A U.S. Resident Is Taxed On A Foreign Inheritance
As a resident of the US you can receive your inheritance tax free (at least federally). You may have to pay a state inheritance tax on amounts you receive.
Right now only 7 states have an inheritance tax: Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
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I am a US citizen and my mother (US citizen living in Canada) recently died. Her money is in Canada and I would like to know if there is any Canadian taxes other than the estate tax that will be due. Thanks
@Eve,
Canada does not have an estate tax but rather there is a deemed sale of assets at FMV on the date of death. Any accumulated gains or losses are realized for tax purposes and any income is taxed as normal. The executor will have to file the deceased’s final T1 tax return and obtain a clearance certificate from the CRA before distributing the assets to the beneficiaries.
If you are the executor, you are strongly urged to seek professional help from a lawyer (in Canada) as having an executor outside of the country highly complicates matters.
Who do I contact to get the T4A statements so that they get sent to me in the US? What documents will they require?
Thanks
You contact your employer.
Yo Tax Guy, the person was not employed and rec’d income from her pension & OAS, so who would I contact and what documents will they require from the estate to get those forms mailed to the US?
For the pension plan you would have to contact the pension provider. For OAS you would contact old age security you can find them at Service Canada: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/oas/pension/oldagesecurity.shtml
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