buying a car in US while working under TN status

A

apkesh

Registered Users (C)
I've been working in the US as an independent consultant and living in Canada for the last few years now (so I do my taxes here). My projects usually last 4 to 6 months so I renew my TN each time I move to a new client and plan on doing this for another few years at least.

Recently I've been thinking of purchasing a car in the US and wanted to know how the tax system works suppose I decide to bring back the car to register in Canada after a year of keeping it in the US?

Since I don't have one single client (and TN) for a full year, I am wondering if I will be taxed differently than from some one who had working in the US for one client for over one year? I am contemplating on buying a cheap car, drive it around and sell it/donate it after I am done with it or buy a nice expensive car that I can bring it back to Canada in a years time if I wish to. I need to decide soon as I have been renting cars all this time and it's adding up to quite a bit.

Any advice on how to go about this would be appreciated.
 
apkesh said:
I've been working in the US as an independent consultant and living in Canada for the last few years now (so I do my taxes here). My projects usually last 4 to 6 months so I renew my TN each time I move to a new client and plan on doing this for another few years at least.

Recently I've been thinking of purchasing a car in the US and wanted to know how the tax system works suppose I decide to bring back the car to register in Canada after a year of keeping it in the US?

Since I don't have one single client (and TN) for a full year, I am wondering if I will be taxed differently than from some one who had working in the US for one client for over one year? I am contemplating on buying a cheap car, drive it around and sell it/donate it after I am done with it or buy a nice expensive car that I can bring it back to Canada in a years time if I wish to. I need to decide soon as I have been renting cars all this time and it's adding up to quite a bit.

Any advice on how to go about this would be appreciated.
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Buying an expensive car in the US and then bringing it back to Canada might prove to be a headache - because of taxation, safety inspection/laws in Canada, etc...Buying a car in Canada and then driving back and forth across the border will be the better option..
 
I would sell the car after using it in the U.S. Canada has more strict laws in terms of importing cars and not all vehicles in the U.S. are allowed in Canada because of these restrictions (i.e. environmental).

Canada will also tax you to the bone. But if you can afford it, go for it.
 
You got that right....

I brought a used bimmer from Canada and it would cost me around 1000 to get it imported and tagged, plus potential problems with DMV because the dashboard is in km only, not miles. Last week I bought a new Civic instead and will take my bimmer back to Canada to sell it or just have the bank repossess it (still owe 23 months of balance to the bank). No point of selling it here, since cars are much cheaper in the US.
 
Hi, I am in the process of buying a U.S. car too, but am having some problems.

A few months ago I was thinking of buying a U.S. car, but the auto insurance company told me that I would need a U.S. driver's license to get any kind of insurance.

I waited...and I just got my NYS license today, but the DMV refused to change my wife's Ontario DL saying that she has to be in the States for more than one year. I am kind of stucked now...I wanted to buy a U.S. car, but my wife would not be able to get any auto insurance and hence I will need a keep a Canadian car just for her casual driving. If I stay with my Canadian car, I only have a NYS license now (DMV took my canadian one away) and I am not sure how well that would work.

Does any one have similar kind of experience? Or does any one know any U.S. insurance company that would insure Canadian drivers?

Thank you.
 
belld001 said:
I waited...and I just got my NYS license today, but the DMV refused to change my wife's Ontario DL saying that she has to be in the States for more than one year. I am kind of stucked now
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I find this hard to believe. I had a Ontario permit for 3 years while living in the US and then changed it to NY with no problems. The ON permit was not expired at the time i changed it to NY, perhaps that is the problem with your wife's permit.
 
belld001 said:
DMV took my canadian one away
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I don't think that should have happened. If it were another state's dl then I believe they do, but in my experience they don't take Canadian dl's.
 
I live in Virginia and the DMV took my NB license away when I went I got my Va. one. I expect that if I moved back to Canada the province would take my Va. license away.
 
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