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Foreign Social Security Taxes As Foreign Tax Credits

Subject: Foreign Tax Credits Number: 04-18 Date: 7/16/2004

For countries other than U.S., the foreign social security taxes are no longer a tax credit.

The CRA recently issued Technical News number 31 discussing the treatment of social security taxes as a foreign tax credit. In the past, the CRA has permitted foreign social security taxes to qualify as a non-business income tax for purposes of the foreign income tax credit. The CRA has now changed its treatment and will no longer allow social security taxes, other than U.S. social security taxes collected under the FICA, to be eligible for a foreign tax credit.

The only reason that the U.S. social security tax is allowed as a tax credit is because of the Canada-U.S. Income Tax Treaty.

This will have implications for any clients who earned a foreign social security income from countries other than the United States.

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