Without any notice or official press release, the IRS removed its public webpage for the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures (DFSP) on July 1, 2026, ending the administrative path that allowed taxpayers to file late Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) without penalties. While the statutory framework governing FBAR filing obligations and penalties remains unchanged, the removal of this administrative procedure creates uncertainty for taxpayers seeking to correct historical non-compliance...Canada is the first 'settler nation' to allow applicants to attain citizenship by descent and is the only nation that allows citizenship by descent without a firm start date or set of circumstances such as belonging to a specific persecuted group.

Revocable trusts are fairly common estate planning tools for U.S. persons who live in the U.S...So what happens when someone who maintains a U.S. revocable trust moves to Canada? If the soon-to-be Canuck is the trustee of the U.S. revocable trust, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will consider the trust a Canadian resident for tax purposes and treat the trust as a separate entity from the grantor...This difference in tax treatment creates the potential for double taxation, taxation that often cannot be fully offset using foreign tax credits, as well as onerous and costly tax filing obligations.

Our cross-border clients will be happy to hear that on January 5^th, 2025, the bill to repeal WEP was signed into law. This means that those individuals affected by WEP may receive additional Social Security benefits. Better yet, the bill is retroactive back to benefits received in January 2024.

The Steele Wealth Management team are specialists at maximizing retirement income for all our clients, and we are happy to see elimination of WEP with more money in the pockets of our cross-border clients! While WEP repeal simplifies retirement income planning, there is still plenty of planning to do to maximize income in retirement!