Do I have to file at home while living in Germany?
Residence decides it, and residence is a question of facts rather than of where your post arrives. The one exception is US citizenship, which carries the filing obligation with the person wherever they go. So the first thing we establish is which system still claims you.
Is there a treaty between my country and Germany?
That is verified rather than assumed: we confirm which treaty text governs Germany and your home country for the year in question, because a protocol can move a rate or an article between years. If there is no treaty, unilateral credit rules are what prevent double taxation.
I own property in Germany. Where is the rent taxed?
In Germany, because that is where the property sits. The complication is the base: gross-rent withholding takes no account of mortgage interest, tax or repairs, so a leveraged property can face tax on turnover. An election onto net profit, where it exists, is what fixes that — and it has its own timing.
Do I have to tell the CRA I bought a flat in Germany?
Buying does not create a tax charge at home, but it can create a reporting duty, and the two get confused. Whether a property abroad has to be disclosed generally turns on what it is held for: a home you live in yourself is treated differently from one held to earn income. The duty attaches to holding the asset, not to making a profit on it, so a property producing nothing can still have to be reported. Decide which category yours falls into at the point of purchase, and keep the completion papers and every acquisition cost — you will need them again when you sell.
Do I pay Canadian tax on rent from my German apartment?
If you are resident in Canada, yes. Worldwide income includes German rent, and it goes on the Canadian return whether or not the money is ever brought over. Germany taxes the rent too, as income arising there, and the German tax is relieved by credit at home. The two results will not match. Each country decides in its own terms what may be deducted and how the building itself is treated over time, so the computation is done twice on different rules. Keep the German statements and the agent's accounts, because the home computation is built from the underlying figures rather than from the German result.
I sold my German property, which country taxes the gain?
Germany taxes gains on German land, as the country where the property sits. If you were resident at home when you sold, the same gain is taxed there as well, and relief for the German tax comes by credit. Two things commonly go wrong. The gain is computed twice on different rules, so the German figure is not the figure to put on the home return. And the home computation runs in home currency throughout, so currency movement across the holding period can produce a taxable gain on its own account.
Can I deduct German property taxes on my Canadian return?
Not as a foreign tax credit, in most cases. A credit relieves foreign income taxes on income your home country is also taxing. A charge levied on the property itself is a different animal. Where the property is let, such a charge is usually an expense of earning that rental income and belongs in the rental computation. Where the property is kept for your own use, it is generally neither creditable nor deductible. Getting the distinction right at the outset matters, because it changes where the amount sits in the return and how much relief it actually delivers.
Was my German home my main residence for tax back home?
It can be, but not automatically and not for free. Home-country main-residence relief generally depends on the property being ordinarily occupied by you and your family, and on the years you designate it — and a year given to one property cannot also be given to another. If you own a house at home over the same years, designating the German one carries a cost that only shows up when the other is eventually sold. Model both before you sell either. This is one of the few decisions on a property file that cannot be revisited afterwards.
Which exchange rate do I use for a German property sale?
Not the rate on the day you sit down to do the calculation. The home computation is a home-currency computation from end to end: the purchase price and acquisition costs convert at the rates in force when they were incurred, and the sale proceeds and selling costs at the rates when the sale happened. The consequence surprises people. A flat sold for the same number of euros it cost can still produce a taxable gain at home, purely from currency movement, and occasionally a loss where the currency went the other way. Record the rates as you go rather than reconstructing them later.
Is the sale of foreign property taxable where I live?
For a resident, yes — worldwide gains are taxable, and the gain is computed in your own currency, so the exchange rate at purchase and at sale changes the number even when the local-currency price did not move. The country where the property sits usually taxes it too, often with a withholding or clearance step before closing, and that tax becomes a credit. A principal residence relief may apply to a home abroad on the same terms as one at home. See principal residence and foreign property.
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.
