I have a client who has fairly considerable US Pensions. She does file in the US, now she has brought me her US tax return, on which she has paid almost double the tax compared to the foreign tax credit she received.
Can we claim the actual tax paid, if so where would we enter it?
The biggest credit you can get 100% of the Canadian taxes that apply to the pensions. If the 1040 tax is bigger, the taxpayer is out of luck, not necessarily 100% of the US taxes.
Were the pensions the only thing taxable on the 1040? If not, have you done an allocation calculation?
As a sideline, I hope the US Social Security was not included on the US return and that the person does not have any Cdn income other than Old Age Pension and Canada Pension Plan as these also are not taxed in the US as per tax treaty