Do I have to file at home while living in Hong Kong?
For most people the answer turns on whether the ties that made them resident have actually ended. For a US citizen or green-card holder it does not: the return is due in Hong Kong exactly as it would be at home. Everything else on the file follows from which of those you are.
Is there a treaty between my country and Hong Kong?
Possibly, and the version in force for your year is the one that matters — protocols and multilateral-instrument positions change what a treaty does without changing its name. We check it against the authority rather than a summary. Where no treaty applies, domestic relief takes over.
I own property in Hong Kong. Where is the rent taxed?
In Hong Kong, 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.
When does my home country start treating me as resident again?
Residence resumes on facts, not on the date printed on the boarding pass. Home systems look at where you have a home available, where your family lives, where your bank and professional ties sit, and in many cases how many days you are physically present. Landing with your family and taking a lease on the same weekend usually makes the date obvious. Returning alone months before the household follows rarely does. We fix a date, write down the facts supporting it, and keep that note with the return, because the date drives everything that follows in the year of return.
Do I still have to file in Hong Kong after I have left?
Possibly, for the period before you went and sometimes for income that arose afterwards. A source-based system does not lose interest in you simply because you are no longer there: it asks where the income arose and whether the activity that produced it took place locally. Employment income for services performed before departure, directors' fees and profits of a local business can all continue to matter. Leaving is an event to be reported and evidenced, not a door that closes by itself. We work out what remains open before assuming anything has finished.
My bonus was paid after I moved home — which country taxes it?
Look at what the bonus was paid for rather than at the date it hit the account. A source-based system asks where the services that earned it were performed, so a bonus for a period worked in Hong Kong can remain sourced there even though it arrived after you left. Your home country, meanwhile, may want it because you were resident when you received it. The usual answer is apportionment plus relief for tax paid on the other side, not a choice between them. Keep the award letter, the performance period and the payslip showing what was deducted.
Do my investments get a new starting value when I move back?
Some systems treat assets as newly acquired at market value on the day residence begins, and others simply carry on with the original cost. Which rule applies to you decides whether growth built up while you were away is inside or outside the home tax net, so it is worth settling before you sell anything. Whichever applies, the practical step is the same and it is time sensitive: capture dated valuations of your holdings on the day residence resumes. Reconstructing what a portfolio or a property was worth on a particular day several years ago is expensive and never as convincing.
Should I close my Hong Kong accounts before moving back?
Not reflexively. An account is a tie among many and closing it does not by itself change your residence position, while keeping it open may leave you with reporting to do at home on foreign holdings. The better question is what each account is for once you are home, and whether you can still obtain statements from it in years to come. Closing an account often means losing access to the history that supports your own filings. Decide account by account, and keep downloaded statements for the years that remain open before you shut anything.
I never told anyone I had left — is coming back the time to fix it?
Yes, and it is much easier to do before a question arrives than after. The common pattern is a departure that was never reported and a home filing history that simply stops, then resumes on return with a gap in the middle. That gap is visible. The work is to establish what your residence actually was in each of those years on the facts, prepare what should have been filed, and put it in with an explanation rather than in silence. Voluntary correction is a recognised route in most systems and its value drops once contact has been made.
Does foreign employment income create RRSP room?
Only where it is earned income reported on a Canadian return. RRSP room is built from earned income that Canada sees, so a non-resident year of foreign salary generally builds none, and foreign tax paid does not create room of its own. This is why people returning to Canada after years abroad find their contribution room much smaller than the years elapsed suggest, and why the notice of assessment is the only reliable statement of it. See returning to Canada after years abroad.
Do green card holders living abroad have to file US taxes?
Yes. A lawful permanent resident is a US tax resident, taxed on worldwide income, and that status does not end simply because you moved away — it ends when it is formally abandoned or administratively terminated. Two traps follow. Filing as a non-resident on a treaty claim can put the immigration status itself at risk. And ending the status after holding it long-term can bring you inside the expatriation regime. See giving up a green card.
