Canadian Snowbirds in Florida: Taxes, Property, and Estates

The Five Questions Every Snowbird Asks

The legal questions Canadian snowbirds bring us sort into five piles. How many days can I stay? How should I buy? What happens while I own and rent it out? What happens when I die owning it? And what happens when I sell? Each question has its own trap, and none of the traps is obvious from the Canadian side of the border.

• Staying. The border clock and the tax clock are different, and the tax clock runs out first. The 183-day math →
• Buying. The ownership structure you choose at closing decides your tax picture for decades. How a Canadian should own Florida property →
• Owning and renting. Rental income triggers a 30% gross withholding unless you make an election. Covered below.
• Dying. A US estate tax filing, a possible Florida probate, and a will that may not work here. Covered below, with the deep dive at US estate tax for Canadians.
• Selling. The buyer holds back 15% of your gross price unless you plan ahead. Selling Florida property as a Canadian →

The Day-Count Trap: Two Different Clocks

Immigration and tax do not talk to each other. The border officer typically admits a Canadian visitor for up to six months per entry, and many snowbirds treat that as the limit. But the IRS runs its own count. Add this year's US days, plus one third of last year's, plus one sixth of the year before. Hit 183 on that weighted formula and the IRS presumes you are a US tax resident. A steady winter of about 120 days stays under the formula. A steady 122 crosses it. The tax clock binds long before the immigration clock does.

Crossing the formula is common and usually fixable. A snowbird who was in the US fewer than 183 days in the current year, keeps a Canadian tax home, and stays closer to Canada than to the US can file a one-page form (Form 8840) by June 15 and remain a nonresident. Miss it, or stay too long, and the fallback positions get weaker fast. The full math, the form, and the cleanup options are on our dedicated guide, how long can a Canadian stay in the US.

Two current events, honestly framed. First, the proposed Canadian Snowbird Visa Act would let Canadians 50 and older who keep a home in Canada and own or rent one in the US stay up to 240 days a year. It is a proposal, not law. Both bills sit in committee with no floor vote as of August 2026, and even if one passes, 240 days would break the 183-day cap in the tax exception anyway. Second, immigration firms report a federal registration rule in force since April 2025 for visitors staying 30 days or more who were not registered at entry, which can reach Canadians who drive across the land border. We could not confirm the current details on the official government page while preparing this guide, and we are not immigration lawyers. Check your I-94 record and confirm the current requirements with an immigration lawyer before a long stay.

US Estate Tax on Your Florida Property, in Brief

Here is the honest headline. The US taxes a nonresident's American assets at death starting at just $60,000 of value, which sounds terrifying when your condo is worth $600,000. But Canada has something almost no other country has, a treaty that gives a Canadian estate a prorated share of the same credit an American estate gets. The share matches the fraction of your worldwide estate that sits in the US, and because the American credit now shelters $15 million, the prorated share covers the tax on the Florida property whenever your worldwide estate is at or under that number. Take a $1 million Naples condo inside an $8 million worldwide estate. The treaty credit swallows the US tax entirely. For most snowbird families, the US estate tax bill is zero.

Zero tax does not mean nothing to do. If the US assets exceed $60,000 at death, and nearly every Florida condo does, the estate must still file a US estate tax return, Form 706-NA, within nine months. And the treaty credit has a price. To claim it, the executor must disclose the worldwide estate to the IRS. Many Canadian families balk at showing the IRS their whole balance sheet, but that disclosure is the admission ticket. Until the IRS processes the return and issues a transfer certificate, banks and title companies will generally not release or retitle the US assets, so the family waits. The work is not avoiding a tax; it is proving zero, on time, on the right form.

Two more features worth knowing. Property passing to a surviving spouse can qualify for an additional treaty credit, elected on the return, which can shelter up to double the prorated amount. And the math floats with Congress. If the US exemption is ever cut, the prorated credit shrinks with it, which is why larger estates plan now rather than hope. The full walkthrough, with the worked numbers and the spousal election, is at US estate tax for Canadians.

The Will Trap: A Handwritten Canadian Will Can Fail in Florida

Most Canadian provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, accept a holograph will, one written entirely in your own handwriting, signed, with no witnesses. Florida accepts a nonresident's will if it was valid where it was signed, with one carve-out written into the statute, and that carve-out is holographic and oral wills. A holograph will that is perfectly valid in Toronto or Montreal cannot pass your Florida condo. The Florida property then falls to Florida's rules for dying without a will, and the people Florida's formula picks may not be the people your will names.

The fix is easy once you see it. A handwritten will that was properly witnessed by two witnesses is fine; Florida's objection is to the unwitnessed form, not the handwriting. A Quebec notarial will is not holographic and is generally admissible. And a will drafted for your Florida property, or a deed or trust that skips the will entirely, closes the gap for good.

Even a valid will does not skip the courthouse. When a Canadian dies owning Florida real estate in personal name, Florida opens an ancillary administration, a second probate here that runs alongside the estate proceeding back home. Florida also limits who may serve when the personal representative lives outside Florida. Close relatives qualify, so your daughter in Toronto can serve, but an Ontario estate trustee who is a family friend, or a Canadian trust company, cannot. We handle Florida ancillary probates remotely and coordinate with the Canadian estate lawyer; the mechanics are on our out-of-state probate guide, and the same rules apply from out of country.

The Fix for Probate: A Lady Bird Deed Works for Canadians

The cheapest Florida probate is the one that never opens. A lady bird deed (an enhanced life estate deed) passes your Florida property to the people you name automatically at death, while you keep full lifetime control. You can sell, mortgage, rent, or change your mind without anyone's consent. And it works for Canadians, because it is simply a Florida deed form; nothing in Florida deed law requires the owner to live in Florida or in the United States. For a snowbird the usual homestead complications mostly fall away too, since a winter condo is almost never Florida homestead (those protections turn on permanent Florida residency, which a visitor on a six-month admission does not have).

Be clear about what the deed fixes and what it does not. It avoids Florida probate, full stop. No ancillary administration, no personal representative problem, no courthouse. It does not avoid US estate tax, because you keep control, so the property stays in your US taxable estate; for most snowbird estates the treaty already makes that tax zero, as above, but the 706-NA filing duty remains. It does not avoid Canada's deemed disposition at death either; Canada taxes the accrued gain on your final return whether or not the property skips probate. Your beneficiaries still take with a stepped-up US basis, and if they are not US persons they will face FIRPTA withholding when they later sell. Attorney-prepared for $399, or $449 for a couple, plus recording.

Two cautions. First, do not "just add the kids to the deed" instead. For a Canadian, a lifetime gift of US real estate gets only a $19,000 per-recipient annual exclusion, with no lifetime exemption and no treaty relief; a well-meant title change can create a real US gift tax bill, plus Canadian tax issues of its own. Second, a revocable living trust also avoids ancillary probate and works well for Americans, but for a Canadian owner, moving an appreciated property into any trust can itself be a taxable disposition in Canada. Your Canadian accountant must clear that move before we draft it, and we will not draft around it alone.

The LLC Trap: Why Canadians Should Not Default to an LLC

US closing agents tell domestic buyers to take title in an LLC almost by reflex, and for Americans it is often sensible. For a Canadian it can be the most expensive free advice at the closing table. Canadian tax authorities have long treated a US LLC as a corporation, no matter how the US taxes it. So the US taxes you personally on the rental income and the sale, while Canada sees a corporation paying you dividends, a different taxpayer, on different timing, with different character. The foreign tax credit that normally stitches the two systems together can fail in that mismatch, and the same income can be taxed twice, once in each country.

A single-member LLC does not even buy US estate tax protection in exchange; the US looks straight through it. The older workaround, holding the property through a Canadian corporation, mostly died in 2005 when Canada began taxing personal use of corporate property as a shareholder benefit. For the typical snowbird condo, personal ownership plus a lady bird deed is the boring answer that wins. The full structure comparison, including when a trust built before closing earns its keep, is at buying Florida property as a Canadian.

Selling Later: FIRPTA Holds Back 15% at Closing

When a foreign owner sells US real estate, the buyer must withhold 15% of the gross sale price, not the profit, and send it to the IRS. On a $700,000 sale that is $105,000 held back at closing even if your actual gain is modest or zero. A reduced 10% rate applies between $300,001 and $1,000,000 when the buyer will use the home as a residence, and sales at $300,000 or less with buyer-residence use can be exempt. The planning move is a withholding certificate (Form 8288-B) filed before closing, which cuts the withholding to your actual expected tax; without it, you wait for a refund through a US return. A Canadian seller without a US tax number will also need an ITIN, and that takes lead time.

Canada taxes the same gain on your Canadian return, with a foreign tax credit for the US tax, and the two gains rarely match because the US measures yours in US dollars and Canada in Canadian dollars. The US-side mechanics live on our FIRPTA withholding guide; the Canadian wrapper, timeline, and ITIN sequencing are at selling Florida property as a Canadian.

Renting Out the Condo: The 30% Withholding Problem

Rent out the condo for the summer and the default US rule is blunt. A full 30% of every gross rent payment is withheld and sent to the IRS by the tenant or property manager, with no deductions for the mortgage, taxes, management, or repairs. On most rentals that far exceeds the real tax on the net income.

The fix is an election, available to foreign owners, to be taxed on the net rental income instead, with normal deductions. In practice it means giving your property manager a completed Form W-8ECI, which requires a US tax number, and filing a US nonresident return (Form 1040-NR) each year to preserve the election. Done right, the manager stops withholding and you pay tax on the actual profit. Canada also taxes the rent, with credit coordination and its own foreign-property reporting for income-producing US property; that side belongs to your Canadian accountant, and we coordinate with them.

How We Work With Canadian Clients

Cross-border work goes wrong when nobody owns the seam, so we are precise about our lane. We handle the US and Florida side, meaning lady bird deeds and other Florida deeds, Florida-property wills and trusts, ancillary probate, the 706-NA estate filing, FIRPTA planning at sale, and the US tax filings that go with ownership. We coordinate directly with your Canadian accountant and your Canadian lawyer so the deed we record and the plan they run at home fit together, and we tell you which questions belong on which side of the border before you pay anyone to answer them.

Two things we are not. We are not Canadian tax advisors. The deemed disposition at death, CRA reporting, and provincial wrinkles stay with your Canadian team. And we are not immigration lawyers. The day-count and registration points on this page are general information, and a stay that pushes the immigration rules deserves its own advisor. Everything starts with a free 30-minute consult, by Zoom, from either country.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The Ontario couple with the handwritten will. A retired couple from Ottawa wintered in Fort Myers for years. His will was a holograph will, perfectly valid at home, and the family assumed it covered everything. It could not pass the Florida condo, which would have fallen to Florida's intestacy formula on his death. A lady bird deed naming his wife and then the children closed the gap in a week, for less than the cost of one probate filing fee back home.

The widow waiting on a transfer certificate. A Toronto widow's husband died owning a $700,000 Sarasota condo inside a worldwide estate well under the US exemption. The treaty made the US estate tax zero, but the estate still had to file Form 706-NA, disclose the worldwide estate to claim the credit, and wait for the IRS transfer certificate before the title company would move. The tax was never the problem; the timeline was. Filing promptly, with the treaty statement done right, is what shortened it.

The buyer talked into an LLC. A Montreal buyer was at the closing table with a single-member LLC formed the week before, on the title agent's suggestion. One call flagged the mismatch. The US would tax him directly while Canada would see a corporation, setting up double tax on every rent payment. He took title personally, recorded a lady bird deed, and kept the structure his Canadian accountant could actually work with.

Sources of Law

Authorities retrieved August 9, 2026. Treaty computations and immigration rules change; confirm current figures before acting.

• Convention Between the United States and Canada With Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, as amended by the 1995 protocol: Art. XXIX B(2) (prorated unified credit; worldwide-estate disclosure condition), XXIX B(3) to (4) (marital credit election), XXIX B(6) (Canadian credit for US estate tax), Art. XIII(1) (real property gains). irs.gov (consolidated treaty PDF)
• Instructions for Form 706-NA: filing required when US-situs assets exceed $60,000; nine-month deadline; treaty-based position statement; marital credit computation. irs.gov. Default NRA unified credit $13,000: IRC §2102(b)(1); retained-control inclusion: IRC §§2036, 2038; basis step-up: IRC §1014.
• Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 basic exclusion $15,000,000; $19,000 annual gift exclusion. irs.gov newsroom
• Fla. Stat. §732.502(2): nonresident wills valid if valid where executed, excluding holographic and nuncupative wills. leg.state.fl.us
• Fla. Stat. §734.102: ancillary administration for nonresident decedents. leg.state.fl.us · Fla. Stat. §733.304: nonresident personal representatives limited to listed relatives. leg.state.fl.us
• IRS, substantial presence test (weighted 183-day formula) and closer connection exception (Form 8840). irs.gov SPT · irs.gov closer connection
• IRS, FIRPTA withholding: 15% gross default; 10% and exempt buyer-residence tiers; Form 8288-B certificates; IRC §§897, 1445. irs.gov
• IRS, foreign persons receiving rental income from US real property: 30% gross withholding default; net election under IRC §871(d); Form W-8ECI. irs.gov
• Canada Revenue Agency: deemed disposition at death (accrued gains taxed on the final return; spousal rollover). canada.ca. Summarized at a general level; Canadian tax advice comes from Canadian counsel.
• Canadian Snowbird Visa Act: H.R. 3070 and S. 2406, 119th Congress; in committee, not law, as of August 9, 2026. congress.gov H.R. 3070 · congress.gov S. 2406
• USCIS, alien registration requirement (Form G-325R, stays of 30 days or more, reported in force April 11, 2025). uscis.gov. The official page could not be retrieved when this guide was prepared; details verified only through secondary immigration-bar summaries. Confirm current requirements with an immigration lawyer.

Updated on August 9, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. This page is general information about US and Florida law, not legal or tax advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. We are not immigration lawyers and do not advise on Canadian tax; immigration statements here are general information, and Canadian tax questions belong to your Canadian accountant and counsel, with whom we coordinate. Government costs are additional and passed through at cost. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.