THIS ARTICLE IS BEING UPDATED ON 12/17/19: THE RULES HAVE CHANGED AND ARE NOW EASIER FOR AMERICANS WORKING IN CANADA AND MAKING LESS THAN CAN$15,000. The following is taken directly from the Government of Canada Web Site: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/information-been-moved/rendering-services-canada/guidelines-treaty-based-waivers-involving-regulation-105-withholding.html
"New simplified income tax process for non-resident artists and athletes
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has created a new waiver simplified process for self-employed non-resident artists and athletes earning money for performances in Canada. If you are a non-resident artist or an athlete performing in Canada for a fee and will earn no more than CAN$15,000 during the calendar year, you can use the simplified waiver process to cut down on paperwork, as well as reduce or eliminate the tax withheld on your earnings in Canada. Please see Simplified Regulation 105 income tax waiver application for non-resident artist and athletes for more information."
If you click on the link, it tells you the following:
"Artists and athletes: how the simplified process works
Your country of residence determines the steps required when you use the simplified process.
Process for residents of the United States
If you are an artist or athlete living in the United States (U.S.) and expect to earn no more than CAN$15,000 for performances in Canada during the calendar year, here’s how the process works:
- Complete Section 1 of Form R105-S, Simplified Waiver Application, and give the form to the entity paying you to perform in Canada (the “payer”).
- The payer will not withhold any of your Canadian income.
- The payer will issue you a tax slip for proof of income earned in Canada by February 28 of the following year.
- Report the amounts you earned in Canada on your U.S. income tax return.
If you do not earn other income in Canada during the calendar year, you have no more actions to take.
Example
A U.S. resident artist enters into a contract to perform a show in Canada for CAN$13,000 with a CAN$1,000 bonus to cover expenses. This is the artist’s only performance in Canada in the calendar year. Since Article XVI of the Canada – U.S. Tax Treaty exempts income earned by a U.S. resident artist when the gross income earned by the artist (which includes the amount paid for services and the bonus) does not exceed CAN$15,000 in the calendar year, the U.S resident artist can use this simplified waiver process:
- The artist completes Section 1 of Form R105-S, Simplified Waiver Application.
- The artist signs the form and gives it to the payer before the performance or any payment, including any deposit (no interaction with the CRA or Canadian identification number is required).
- The payer makes sure the artist has completed and signed the form.
- The payer completes their portion of the form and signs, which brings the waiver into force. The payer is then not required to withhold any funds and can pay the artist in full.
- The payer keeps a copy of the signed Form R105-S, Simplified Waiver Application, for their records for a six-year period in the event that the CRA asks for it."
Life for Americans making less than $15,000 Canadian Dollars each in a fiscal year (if you are in a group, a team or a band, you can divide the revenue amongst the members) has just become MUCH easier.
If you will make more than CAN$15,000 in a fiscal year, you need to follow the following instructions still:
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It is March 2013, and I return to Canada to perform for a fundraising show in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, about 2 hours outside Saskatoon. Kindersley has a population of just under 5,000 and is a mineral rich farming community, like so many others in this region.
Over the last 25 years of my career, I have performed for a lot of fairs and expositions, including the Calgary Stampede, Saskatoon Prairielands Exhibition, Medicine Hat Exhibition, Royal Manitoba Winter Exhibition in Brandon, private parties for the military, and others.
In December 2011, I did not apply for a tax exemption before doing a show for a military squadron. This was my mistake and I knew better. Regaredless, it cost me $225.00, which the government withheld from my check and submitted to Revenue Canada (the equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service in the USA). The only way I was going to get that money back was to file a Canadian tax return. I didn’t bother.
Before working in Canada, U.S. citizens must apply for tax exemption. If they do not, it is mandated that the Canadian host retain 15% of gross payment and send it to Revenue Canada. To apply for tax exemption, there are a number of steps to take. It is not complicated, but it must be done at least 3-4 weeks before the event date to give Revenue Canada sufficent time to respond.
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December 2012
My father was George Sands. His mother called him Georgie. He called himself SandSational. I called him dad.
People ask me all the time, “What was it like growing up with a father who did magic?” and I can only reply, “That’s all I knew.” I didn’t realize that my life was exceptional. For a long time, I would say, “I wish he had been a doctor or a lawyer,” but I have changed that tune. I miss my father, for who he was.
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2012 July 8 - I recently went camping along the coast of California at Phieffer Big Sur State Park to get out of the San Francisco Bay Area and breathe some smoke. The neighbors at our next door site were friendly enough when we arrived, but there seemed to be some differences in how we communed with nature. The first sign was their Coke Zero, the giant red bag of Fritos chips, and the two cushioned, raised chairs their designer Scotties (dogs) sat on. The clincher was when they used a remote control to close the door of their VW SUV from 60 feet away...
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Another Grad Night / Post Prom season is coming to an end soon. Each year I perform about thirty shows for high school groups. This is a market I have been developing for over twenty years. I began doing comedy hypnosis shows in the mid-1990s. Beginning in March and ending in June, this is my primary market for close to 3 months—a time of little sleep, lots of travel, and great audiences. I have slept in many beds—none my own.
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2011 December 7 - Today is Pearl Harbor Day. On this day in 1941, the largest single attack on American soil by an outside country or agency took place. Prior to this—from 1864 and earlier—only civil war battles had rung up high tolls of death and destruction in the United States. Since then it has been the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
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I went to the Hypnotherapy Institute in Marin, California for my clinical hypnotherapy training. My teacher, Marleen Mulder, told us a story that has touched my life more than any of the other teachings I learned at the time.
Marleen was a witness to a bombing in Europe ...
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This is my first blog in my new blog site - Thursday, October 6th, 2011. Kind of excited about the potential of this for search engines finding me. It is suggested that I blog here instead of on Facebook or Twitter or on an outside blog site so the copy draws spiders to my web site. We will have to see how that goes.
This week I'm performing in Lumberton, North Carolina, at the Robeson County Fair. I believe this is the 10th year I have worked at this fair. I did the fair for a few years, then took a few years off, and have returned now for a few more years.
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