Built for Ontario residents who own Florida rental property.
Toronto, Ottawa, GTA, Hamilton, London — Ontarians are the largest single Canadian buyer cohort in Florida. BorderBird is the tax-ready ledger that handles your Florida property's CRA + IRS filings in one place.
Create account, connect Gmail, add a property, add a tenant, run the first scan. Five steps, about a minute each.
Rent payments, utility bills, and receipts detected automatically — matched to the right property, dated, and queued for one-click import.
Years of payments in Yahoo, Outlook, or Apple Mail? Forward them to Gmail and BorderBird imports them with their original dates.
Upload a signed lease PDF — AI pulls dates, rent, and tenant names. Renewals, vacates, and full tenancy history stay organized.
Why Ontario → Florida is the most common cross-border combo
Three structural forces push Ontario residents toward Florida rental property more than any other US state. Understanding all three changes how you approach tax setup.
1. GTA pricing has decoupled from rental yields. A Toronto single-family detached home at $1.3M renting for $4,000/month trades at a 3.7% gross yield — and that's before property tax, insurance, maintenance, and Ontario's landlord-friendly rent control (currently 2.5% cap in 2026). Florida properties at $350,000-450,000 routinely rent at $2,500-3,500/month, producing 7-9% gross yields and 5-6% cap rates after expenses.
2. Florida has zero state income tax. Of every US state where Canadians buy property, Florida produces the simplest US-side tax workflow. Your only US filing is federal 1040-NR. Compare to California (state tax 1-13.3% on top of federal) or New York (4-10.9%), and Florida saves you a state return every year and reduces total US tax materially.
3. The snowbird logistics overlap. Ontarians who winter in Florida already know the buyer markets — Tampa Bay, Sarasota, Naples / Cape Coral / Fort Myers, Boca Raton, and the Treasure Coast. Direct flights (~3 hours) make property inspection trips, contractor coordination, and emergency visits practical year-round.
Your Ontario + Florida tax obligations
Ontario residents declare worldwide income to CRA on their T1. Your Florida rental flows through T776 with every USD line converted to CAD at the Bank of Canada annual average rate (2025 = 1.3978 CAD/USD). Even with Ontario's high marginal rates, the foreign tax credit normally absorbs your US tax.
A typical Florida condo or single-family home easily exceeds the CAD $100,000 cost threshold. Detailed reporting kicks in over $250k. The CRA penalty for skipping T1135 starts at $24,000 minimum on a missed property — far larger than the actual tax usually owed.
Florida is one of nine US states with no state income tax — your only US filing is federal 1040-NR. Compared to Ontario landlords with property in California or New York (state tax adds 6-13%), Florida is the simplest US side a Canadian can have.
Attached to 1040-NR. Florida's high property tax (typically 1.0-1.5%) and condo HOA fees both deduct on Schedule E. Hurricane-related insurance is high but fully deductible. 27.5-year straight-line depreciation on the building portion (Form 4562).
Critical for Ontario landlords. Without the Section 871(d) election, the IRS treats your Florida rent as FDAP and the property manager withholds 30% of gross rent — no expenses deductible. The election (filed with your first 1040-NR) switches to ECI treatment so you deduct expenses and pay tax on net only.
When Ontario residents sell Florida property, the buyer's closing agent withholds 15% of gross sale price under FIRPTA. On a $400,000 sale, that's $60,000 held by IRS for 12-18 months. File Form 8288-B 90+ days before closing to reduce withholding to your actual estimated capital gains tax.
Pay US tax via 1040-NR first; claim Foreign Tax Credit on your Ontario T1 to offset the same income. Ontario marginal rate (up to 53.53%) is materially higher than US non-resident rates (~24-30% effective on rental net income), so the FTC almost always fully absorbs the US tax and Ontario tops up the residual.
How BorderBird helps Ontario → Florida landlords specifically
- One ledger producing both T776 and Schedule E. Every rent payment and expense renders in USD for Schedule E and in CAD for T776 — without you re-keying anything.
- Bank of Canada 1.3978 (2025) baked in. Annual average per tax year, applied consistently. The exact convention CRA accepts; the convention your accountant expects to see on T776.
- T1135 threshold visibility for the Florida property. Your USD cost base displays in CAD so you can see the threshold position at any point in the year.
- FIRPTA-aware at sale. When you eventually sell, the ledger pre-computes your estimated capital gains tax so your cross-border CPA can file Form 8288-B for reduced withholding at closing.
- Florida-specific guides. Read Ontario → Florida (full guide) or city-level pages for Tampa, Naples, Sarasota, and others.