Need help with US and Canadian cross border joint filing help!
Hello. Here is my situation. PLEASE READ THROUGH!
I got married in 2025. My wife is a Canadian citizen and I am a US citizen; we have filed for her green card processing.
I have all W4 and investment income. She is a mental health therapist so all her income is Canadian and self-employed. To get her ITIN number we decided to file MFJ in US and showed her global income and took business deductions for her unincorporated business.
Since we filed in US, she should avoid double taxation in Canada, right? However, her family's CPA is saying we filed wrong; she should have only showed her income that she earned while she was visiting me in the US and rest of the income should have been showed on to Canadian tax return.
However, we talked to multiple turbotax experts and they all said US requires global income. Did we do something wrong, or is the CPA trying to scare us?
Also once she gets her green card, we plan to buy a home right away; from my initial research Fannie Mae standards for lending suggest that US tax returns (which include international income) are acceptable; however if she showed majority of her income in Canadian taxes ONLY then they would not consider that.