How Much Does a Dual-Status Tax Return Cost?

A dual-status US tax return typically costs $1,500 to $2,500 to have prepared, against an average of $280 for a CPA-prepared Form 1040 in the 2025 NATP fee study reported by Accounting Today. You file one in the year you move to or from the United States, when you’re a US resident for part of the year and a nonresident for the rest. The price reflects what the return actually is: a resident return and a nonresident return for the same year, stitched together around a residency date that someone has to determine and defend. It can’t be e-filed, it loses the standard deduction, and there’s often an election available that would change what you file, so part of what you’re paying for is the comparison. For a Canadian moving to the US, the both-country filing for the move year typically runs $2,500 to $4,500 in total.

Why does a dual-status return cost so much more than a regular 1040?

Because it’s two tax computations under two sets of rules. For the resident part of the year you’re taxed on worldwide income, the way any US resident is. For the nonresident part you’re taxed only on US-source income, under the nonresident rules. Every item of income for the year has to be assigned to one period or the other, and items like bonuses, stock compensation, and investment income often straddle the date.

The IRS’s dual-status page describes the mechanics: a return for the status you hold at year end, with the other form attached as a statement showing the other period’s income. Most tax software doesn’t produce this. Preparers build the statement separately and assemble the package by hand. The 2025 edition of Publication 519 also states that dual-status taxpayers can’t e-file their return for tax year 2025, so the return is printed, signed, and mailed.

What am I actually paying for?

Mostly judgment about dates and sourcing, plus assembly work that software doesn’t do. The forms themselves are the smaller part. A preparer who does these regularly spends the time on the residency date, the income split, and the election comparison, because those three decide how much tax is owed.

Piece of the work	Why it takes time
Determining the residency start or end date	The substantial presence test counts days over three years, and the start date can be the first day of presence, a green card date, or an elected date. A few days’ difference can move income between periods.
Splitting income between the two periods	Salary is usually clean. Bonuses, RSUs, options, and investment sales need sourcing and timing work.
The election analysis	Many married movers, and some late-year arrivals, can choose a different filing. Someone has to run the numbers both ways.
The restricted computation	No standard deduction, married filing separately rates for most married filers, and several credits barred.
Treaty positions and Form 8833	If a treaty position is taken, it’s disclosed on a separate form.
Paper assembly and mailing	Signature pages, statement, attachments, tracked delivery.
The other country’s return	A Canadian departure or arrival return for the same year, with matching dates.

Could I file something cheaper and simpler?

Sometimes, and checking is part of the job. Three elections can change what you file in a move year. The first-year choice under section 7701(b)(4) lets someone who arrived too late in the year to meet the substantial presence test be treated as a resident for part of it, if they were present at least 31 days in a row and meet a 75% presence test. It still produces a dual-status return.

The other two replace the dual-status return entirely. Under section 6013(g) and (h), a married couple can elect to be treated as US residents for the full year and file a normal joint Form 1040. That return can usually be e-filed, gets the standard deduction, and uses joint rates. The cost is that both spouses’ worldwide income for the whole year goes on the US return, with a foreign tax credit for the tax paid abroad.

A full-year joint return is usually cheaper to prepare than a dual-status return. Whether it’s cheaper in tax is arithmetic on your own figures, and the dual-status versus full-year election guide works through an example both ways.

What does the whole move year cost, both countries included?

The dual-status return is half the filing. A Canadian who moves to the US also files a Canadian return for the year of departure, which reports the deemed disposition of certain property at the date of leaving and may carry an exit tax. The two returns have to agree on the move date and on which country taxed what, because each country’s foreign tax credit depends on the other’s numbers.

Filing	Typical preparation cost
Dual-status US return on its own	$1,500 to $2,500
Canadian departure-year T1 on its own	$1,000 to $1,500
Both, coordinated by one firm	$2,500 to $4,500
State part-year resident return, where one applies	Add $125 to $300

Those ranges are what we see quoted for move-year work and what our own move-year engagements have run. No fee survey breaks out dual-status returns.

Our published prices are built the same way. Cross-border packages that cover both countries’ returns start at $1,745 per person, a departure-year module for the Canadian exit mechanics is $750, and an extra state return is $125. The cross-border tax cost page has the full table. These are starting prices, and the exact fee is fixed in writing before work starts.

What makes a dual-status return more expensive than the range above?

Equity compensation is the most common reason. RSUs and options that were granted in one country and vest in the other have to be sourced between the two by workdays over the vesting period, and both countries tax a share. The cross-border RSU guide covers how the W-2 and T4 end up overlapping.

Other cost drivers are a home sold around the move, Canadian registered accounts and mutual funds that pick up US reporting from the residency date forward, a spouse who stays behind, and a business or rental that continues in the old country. A late filing adds to it as well, since a paper return filed after the deadline with a balance due collects penalties from the original due date.

What should I do next?

Write down your exact travel dates for the move year and the two years before it. The day count decides your residency date, and everything else hangs on that. Then gather your final pay stubs from the old country, first ones from the new country, and any equity compensation statements.

• The substantial presence test guide shows how the weighted day count works.
• The section 6013(g) guide covers filing jointly when one spouse is still a nonresident.
• The cross-border tax return cost guide covers what ongoing both-country filing costs after the move year.

This guide is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Which points apply, and how, depends on your facts.