Which country taxes my pay if I work on a ship?
Usually not the countries whose waters the vessel sailed through. Ships have their own treaty article, and it generally allocates crew income by reference to the enterprise operating the ship rather than to the sea area the vessel was in. That is why a mariner's return does not follow the ordinary employment pattern, and why the voyage record on its own does not answer the question. The first step is to identify the enterprise that actually operates the vessel, which is not always the company named on your contract or the owner shown on the registry.
Do days at sea count as days in a country?
They are generally treated differently from days spent in a country, and for most residency tests that distinction is the whole argument. A day on a vessel in international waters is not obviously a day present anywhere, and countries deal with that in different ways inside their own tests. What follows from it is practical. Record where the vessel was and where you were, separately, for each day, including joining and leaving dates and every period of shore leave. Whichever test eventually applies will ask for one of those records, and neither can be reconstructed from a contract.
Does the flag the vessel is registered under decide my tax?
Rarely on its own. The ship article in most treaties looks to the enterprise operating the vessel, which is a question about who runs the ship as a business, not a question about the registry. A vessel can be flagged in one country, owned in another and operated from somewhere else again, and the article tends to follow the operator. So the flag is a fact to record rather than the answer. Establish who operates the ship and where that enterprise is resident or managed, then read the article between that country and your country of residence.
I am at sea most of the year — am I still resident at home?
Very possibly, because residence generally turns on ties rather than on absence. A home kept available, a family, bank accounts and the place you return to between contracts all point towards continuing residence, even for somebody ashore for only part of the year. Time at sea is also treated differently from time in a country under most tests, so a long stretch on a vessel does not automatically place you anywhere else either. Separate the two questions: where you are resident, and which country the ship article gives taxing rights over your pay. They have different answers and different evidence.
My employer, vessel and pay are in different countries — who taxes me?
That combination is normal in this industry, and it is the situation the ship article exists to resolve. Work through the facts in order: who is the enterprise operating the vessel, where is that enterprise resident or managed, where are you resident, and what does the treaty between those two countries say about crew. The registry of the vessel and the currency you are paid in are facts worth recording but they rarely decide anything. Where the contract names a manning agent rather than the operator, establish which entity actually runs the ship, because the article follows the operation.
Does time in international waters count as being anywhere at all?
For most purposes it is not treated as presence in a country, which is a different statement from saying it does not matter. Days at sea are handled separately from days in a country under most residency tests, and the treatment varies between countries and between the tests applied within one country. The consequence is a record-keeping one. Log the vessel's position by day, your joining and leaving dates and every period ashore, so that whichever test applies can be answered from the log rather than argued from a crew contract.
Do I pay tax when I inherit property abroad?
The inheritance itself is often not income to you, but three other things can create tax: the estate may owe tax where the deceased or the property was situated, some countries tax the recipient directly, and the gain from the date you inherit to the date you sell is yours. Reporting obligations can also attach to holding the asset. See inheriting property abroad.
What happens if I have not filed for several years?
Missed years are handled as one package, not one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year determines the relief available for the rest. Each country has a disclosure or relief programme with its own conditions, and entering the right one — before the authority contacts you — is usually what keeps penalties down. Filing quietly outside a programme forfeits that protection. See catching up on missed returns.
