BorderBird
App →
🏠 Ontario residents · 🇺🇸 US rental property — any state

Built for Ontario residents who own US rental property.

Whether your US property is in Florida, Arizona, Texas, California, New York, or anywhere else — and whether you own one property or several across multiple states — BorderBird handles the CRA + IRS + state filing workflow from one ledger.

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Why landlords pick BorderBird
5-minute setup

Create account, set up forwarding, add a property, add a tenant, forward your first email. Five steps, about a minute each.

AI email-forwarding import

Forward your payment and utility-bill emails — one filter, set once — and BorderBird auto-matches each to the right property and tenant, dated and queued for one-click import. It never connects to your inbox.

Forwarded email history

Years of payments in Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, or Apple Mail? Forward them to your private BorderBird address and BorderBird imports them with their original dates.

AI lease extraction & history

Upload a signed lease PDF — AI pulls dates, rent, and tenant names. Renewals, vacates, and full tenancy history stay organized.

The Ontario-US landlord population is large, diverse, and growing

Ontario is the largest single source province of Canadian capital flowing into US residential real estate. GTA pricing has pushed yields below 3% on Toronto investment property, while US markets routinely cap at 5-8% — driving systematic cross-border allocation by Ontario investors for the past decade.

Three distinct Ontario landlord profiles emerge:

  • Snowbird landlords: Florida or Arizona property they personally use part of the year and rent seasonally. T776 + Schedule E + property-specific occupancy tracking matters here.
  • Pure investors: US property purchased for cash flow + appreciation, never personally occupied. Often multiple properties across one or two states. Multi-state workflow becomes the operational pain.
  • Inherited / family-asset landlords: US property inherited from US-resident family or acquired via family-transaction. The acquisition-cost basis calculation (step-up at death) interacts uniquely with CRA T1135 cost reporting.

Each profile has slightly different tax surface, but all three share the same core CRA + IRS + state filing stack. BorderBird is built for the shared stack.

Your Ontario + US tax obligations (works for any US state)

T776 (CRA)
Statement of Real Estate Rentals — every US property reported separately

Ontario residents declare worldwide income to CRA. One T776 per US property. USD converted to CAD at Bank of Canada annual average (2025 = 1.3978 CAD/USD). With multiple US properties across multiple states, the per-property T776 discipline becomes essential — total Ontario tax math depends on each property's net result.

T1135 (CRA)
Foreign Income Verification — cost base across all US property

Aggregate cost base of all foreign property over CAD $100,000 triggers T1135. Detailed Reporting kicks in over $250k aggregate — virtually certain with two or more US properties. Per-property breakdown required: country code, max cost, year-end cost, gross income, disposition gain/loss.

1040-NR (IRS)
US Nonresident Alien Return — one federal return covers all US property

Federal 1040-NR with Schedule E listing every US property. ITIN required (Form W-7 with first 1040-NR). Filing deadline June 15 for Canadian non-residents with no US wage withholding.

State income tax returns
One state return per US state where you own property

Multi-state Ontario landlords file one state return per state. No-income-tax states (Florida, Texas, Nevada, Washington, Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, New Hampshire) skip state filing. California, New York, Arizona, Oregon, Illinois, North Carolina, Massachusetts all have non-resident filing obligations.

Schedule E + Form 4562 (IRS)
Rental income, expenses, depreciation per property

Attached to 1040-NR. Each property gets its own Schedule E column. 27.5-year straight-line depreciation on the building portion (Form 4562). Multi-state, multi-property setups become complex quickly without software discipline.

Section 871(d) election
One election covers all US rental property

Filed once with your first 1040-NR. Applies to all US-source rental income going forward. Without it, IRS withholds 30% of gross rent under FDAP rules on every property — disastrous for multi-property portfolios.

Foreign Tax Credit (CRA T2209)
Avoiding double taxation across all US properties

Pay US tax (federal + state where applicable) via 1040-NR first; claim Foreign Tax Credit on Ontario T1 to offset the same income. Ontario's 53.53% top rate normally exceeds US rates, so FTC fully absorbs US tax and Ontario tops up the residual. Per-property tracking simplifies the FTC computation materially.

How BorderBird helps Ontario → US landlords specifically

  • Per-property segregation.Each US property tracks separately so the multi-property T776 + Schedule E workflow doesn't commingle income or expenses across properties.
  • Bank of Canada FX consistency across all properties. Annual average rate applied uniformly across every USD entry — the CRA-standard convention.
  • State-aware property setup.Marking a property's state surfaces the relevant state-tax obligations (Arizona 140NR, California 540NR, NY IT-203, etc.) in your year-end export package.
  • T1135 aggregate visibility. Total cost base across all your US properties in CAD, so you can see Detailed Reporting threshold position without spreadsheeting.
  • State-specific guides. Read individual state pages from Ontario → Florida, Ontario → Arizona, Ontario → Texas, Ontario → California — every state has its own page.

FAQ

I have US property in two different states — how does that change filing?
Federally, one 1040-NR covers all your US rental income with Schedule E listing each property separately. State-level, you file one state non-resident return per state where you own property (if that state has income tax). Example: Ontario landlord with Florida + Arizona rental files one federal 1040-NR + one Arizona Form 140NR (no Florida state return needed). Add a California property and you also file California Form 540NR. Each state has its own filing deadline, withholding rules, and credit methodology — the multi-state side is where many DIY filers underestimate complexity.
Do I file one T1135 covering everything or one per property?
One T1135 per Ontario tax filer, listing every specified foreign property. The Detailed Reporting section (required when aggregate cost exceeds $250k) breaks out each property: country code, max cost during year, year-end cost, gross income, disposition gain/loss. Co-owners (e.g., spouses on title) each file their own T1135 for their ownership share — not one joint T1135.
Should I structure my multi-property US portfolio in a corporation?
For Ontario individuals, corporate ownership of US real estate creates as many problems as it solves. CRA-IRS LLC mismatches cause double taxation and lost foreign tax credits. Canadian holding company with US LLC subsidiary structures are sometimes used by ultra-high-net-worth investors but require specialized cross-border CPA design and ongoing fees that rarely justify themselves below ~$5-10M of US real estate. Most Ontario landlords with 1-5 US properties hold them personally.
How does Ontario's 53.53% top rate interact with US tax on multi-property income?
After paying US tax (federal + applicable state), you claim the foreign tax credit on Ontario T1 to offset the same income. Ontario's top combined rate (53.53%) exceeds US non-resident effective rates on rental income (typically 24-35% including state). So the FTC fully absorbs US tax and Ontario tops up the residual. Net effect: you pay the higher of the two jurisdictions' rates on the same dollar — not both. This holds regardless of how many US properties you have; the per-property tracking just makes the math auditable.
What's the practical limit on US properties before I should hire a multi-state CPA?
Most cross-border CPAs say one or two US properties in the same state is manageable with general cross-border tax software. Three or more, or properties in multiple states, you want a CPA who specializes in multi-state cross-border specifically — they know which state-level deductions interact with federal Schedule E and which don't, which states accept federal depreciation methods vs require state-specific methods, and how to optimize FIRPTA timing across multiple sales.
Keep reading
Ontario → Florida specificallyAll Ontario state-by-state guidesCanadian landlords (general)Canadian Owning US Rental — Complete GuideBest software for cross-border landlordsSection 871(d) election guideITIN application guide (Form W-7)T1135 form guideForm 1040-NR guideFIRPTA calculator →CRA remittance calculator →