Visa holders · TN visa
For Canadians and Mexicans, TN visa taxes are the same as any US worker’s, and most pay them as residents.
The substantial presence test sets your US tax status on a TN. Unlike a student visa, the TN itself takes none of your days out of the count. You are usually a resident alien once you have 31 days this year and 183 over three years, with earlier years counting for less.
Updated · Sources
A TN worker’s US taxes in 2026
- 122
- days a year in the US, three years running, reach the weighted 183 of the substantial presence test.
- 7.65%
- of your pay goes to Social Security and Medicare from your first TN paycheck.
- Over 75%
- of your workdays is how often you must commute from Canada or Mexico for those days to stay out of the count.
Social Security’s 6.2% stops at $184,500 of wages in 2026, and Medicare’s 1.45% has no cap. Your employer withholds another 0.9% on wages over $200,000.
Are you a US resident for tax on a TN visa?
The weighted 183-day total settles residency for most TN workers. The last three checks matter only for commuters and for people whose home stays in Canada or Mexico.
The 31-day threshold
You cannot meet the substantial presence test with fewer than 31 days in the US this year, however long you stayed before. A day counts if you are in the US at any point during it.
A weighted total of 183 days
The test counts all of this year’s days, a third of last year’s and a sixth of the year before’s. So a TN worker who divides each year between the US and home can pass without 183 days in any one year.
Commuting days from Canada or Mexico
The count leaves out days you commute to a US job from your home in Canada or Mexico and return within 24 hours. This applies only if you commute on more than 75% of your workdays during your US working period. Commuters who clear that bar, called regular commuters, usually stay nonresident aliens and file Form 1040-NR for their US pay.
Under 183 days, with closer ties at home
With fewer than 183 days in the US this year, you may still be a nonresident under the closer connection exception. To claim it, you need a tax home in Canada or Mexico all year and closer ties there than to the US. You must also file Form 8840 on time. You cannot claim it in any year a green card application was pending or filed for you, including a petition your employer filed.
Resident in both countries
If Canada or Mexico also treats you as its resident, the treaty’s tie-breaker can make you a nonresident for US income tax. It looks first at where you have a permanent home. You claim it on Form 1040-NR, with Form 8833 attached.
Residency usually starts on your first day in the US, so your arrival year is a dual-status year. If you arrive too late to reach 183 days, you may still be able to choose resident status for that year.
What federal income tax and FICA come out of an $80,000 TN salary?
Income tax as a resident
$8,770
A full-year resident takes the $16,100 standard deduction, so $63,900 is taxed.
Social Security and Medicare
$6,120
Residents and nonresidents pay the same amount.
Total as a resident
$14,890
This is the usual TN outcome.
Income tax as a nonresident
$12,312
A regular commuter files Form 1040-NR, with no standard deduction.
Total as a nonresident
$18,432
Losing the standard deduction costs $3,542.
The income tax uses the 2026 rates for a single filer from Rev. Proc. 2025-32. In both cases, that is $5,800 plus 22% of taxable income over $50,400. Social Security is 6.2% of the $80,000, and Medicare is 1.45%. State tax, credits and itemized deductions are left out.
How do the rules differ for Canadian and Mexican TN workers?
The TN is a USMCA visa for professionals, open only to citizens of Canada and Mexico. Your home country decides which tax treaty applies, and whether a Social Security agreement covers you.
| From Canada | From Mexico | |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security agreement | In force since 1984 | None in force |
| Social Security and Medicare on TN pay | Due Unless a CPT56 or QUE/USA 101 certificate keeps you in the CPP or QPP | Due in full No certificate can exempt you |
| US pay taxed only at home | $10,000 or less a year Or 183 days or fewer, if no US employer pays it and no US branch bears it | 183 days or fewer If no US employer pays it and no US branch bears it |
Only someone the treaty treats as a resident of Canada or Mexico can use the rules that tax US pay only at home. Even then, TN pay from a US employer rarely qualifies. Residents of either country who file Form 1040-NR can still claim dependents.
Four US tax mistakes can cost a TN worker money or a joint return.
Expecting a US deduction for RRSP contributions
Money you put into your own RRSP while you work in the US is not deductible on your US return. The treaty deduction covers only plans your employer takes part in, such as a group RRSP. Even then, you must have been in the plan before your US work began.
Leaving income from home off the return
As a resident alien, your US return includes interest, dividends and rent from Canada or Mexico, even if the money stays there. A foreign tax credit may reduce the US tax on income your home country also taxes.
Expecting a joint return in your first year
A dual-status return cannot be filed jointly, and it gets no standard deduction. If you and your spouse are both residents by December 31, a one-time election lets you file jointly as full-year residents. If your spouse is still a nonresident then, a separate election can treat them as a resident so you can file jointly.
Overlooking your TD spouse’s tax ID
A spouse on a TD visa cannot work in the US, so they may not qualify for a Social Security number. To go on a joint return, a spouse without one applies for an ITIN on Form W-7, usually with the return.
We prepare your US returns on a TN, commuting years and the dual-status year included.
Valim’s CPAs prepare US tax returns for Canadian and Mexican professionals on a TN visa, working alongside your accountant at home.
- We work out your status for each TN year and prepare the federal and state returns it needs.
- We compare a joint return for your arrival year against separate returns, and weigh any treaty tie-breaker claim.
- We list your accounts in Canada or Mexico, RRSPs included, on your FBAR and any Form 8938 that is due. Your instant quote prices each foreign account and each foreign mutual fund or ETF you hold.
- We set estimated payments for income from home that has no US withholding.
- Within your fee, we answer IRS and state notices on any return we prepared, including a notice that questions your commuting days.
- Individual return
- from $195
- Business return
- from $495
We quote a flat fee before work starts. We do not bill hourly.
TN visa tax questions.
What taxes do TN visa holders pay?
TN visa holders pay the same taxes as other US workers: federal and any state income tax, plus Social Security and Medicare. The one exception to Social Security and Medicare is a Canadian whose certificate of coverage keeps them in the Canada or Quebec Pension Plan. The TN visa itself carries no tax exemption. The J-1 frees a nonresident’s program pay from Social Security and Medicare, and the TN has no such rule. Most TN visa holders are resident aliens, so their US return also reports what they earn in Canada or Mexico. The treaties’ wage rules rarely help, because a TN worker is paid by a US employer.
Is a TN visa considered a resident or nonresident for tax purposes?
A TN visa holder is a resident alien for tax once their days in the US pass the substantial presence test. TN days count toward the test, as H-1B days do. The test needs 31 days this year and 183 weighted days over three years. The year of arrival is usually dual-status: nonresident before the first day in the US, and resident from that day on. Regular commuters from Canada or Mexico can stay nonresidents, and so can dual residents who claim a treaty tie-breaker. Someone under 183 days this year can too, with a tax home and closer ties in Canada or Mexico and a timely Form 8840. Residents file Form 1040, and nonresidents file Form 1040-NR.
Do TN visa holders pay Social Security tax?
Yes, in most cases, because Social Security and Medicare apply to TN pay whatever your tax residency. A Canadian is exempt only with a Canadian certificate of coverage, requested on form CPT56 (QUE/USA 101 for the Quebec plan). Certificates usually go to workers their employer sends from Canada, such as many L-1 transferees. A TN worker hired by a US employer rarely gets one, so most Canadians on a TN pay. Mexicans on a TN pay in full, since the US and Mexico have no Social Security agreement in force.
What happens to my RRSP on a TN visa?
Your RRSP keeps its tax deferral when you become a US resident on a TN. The US-Canada treaty lets US tax on RRSP and RRIF growth wait until you withdraw. Rev. Proc. 2014-55 makes that deferral automatic for eligible owners, so you file no election form. Each account still goes on your FBAR, and on Form 8938 when your foreign assets pass its threshold. RRSPs and RRIFs are exempt from Form 3520.
Sources
- USCIS, TN USMCA Professionals
- 26 U.S.C. § 7701, Definitions
- 26 C.F.R. § 301.7701(b)-3, Days of presence in the United States that are excluded for purposes of section 7701(b)
- 26 C.F.R. § 301.7701(b)-2, Closer connection exception
- 26 U.S.C. § 6013, Joint returns
- IRS, Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
- IRS, Form 8833
- IRS, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
- US-Canada income tax convention, as amended (IRS text)
- Fifth protocol to the US-Canada convention (2007)
- US-Mexico income tax convention (1992)
- IRS, Rev. Proc. 2014-55 (Canadian retirement plans)
- Social Security Administration, Totalization Agreement with Canada
- Social Security Administration, US international social security agreements
- IRS, Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide
- IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments)
Reviewed and updated September 2026. General information, not advice for your situation.