David Ingram says

Congratulations on even finding form 8833. It is not for instance included in the $1,300 US TurboTax professional income tax preparation program that we use. We pay another $175 to buy TURBO FORMS which does have the form included.

You must file from 8833 if you are claiming a tax treaty based position on your 1040 or your 1040NR US income tax return.

You would file it if you were deferring the internal earnings of your RRSP under Article XXIX.5 of the Tax Convention between Canada and the United States.

You would file it if you were claiming a tax free capital gain on US real estate up to Dec 31, 1984 if you were a resident of Canada at the time.

You would file it to limit the tax on US dividends or US royalties to 15% if you received them while you were a resident of Canada.

You would file it to exempt self employed US income under the treaty if you were a resident of Canada with no fixed business base in the United States.

The stated minimum penalty for failing to file the 8833 is $1,000. However, I have never had a client in the office who has been penalized for not filing it.

However, my advice to anyone is to make sure they file the 8833 when claiming a benefit under the US/Canadian, the US/Mexico, the US/UK, etc., etc., treaties.

david ingram