Do I have to file at home while living in Ireland?
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 Ireland 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 Ireland?
Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.
I own property in Ireland. Where is the rent taxed?
In Ireland, 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.
How do I stop being tax resident in Ireland when I leave?
Leaving ends residence sooner than it ends the rest. Residence answers to the year in question, but ordinary residence answers to the pattern of years around it, so it does not switch off on the day your flight leaves; it trails behind. Domicile usually does not move at all. The practical consequence is that people who have genuinely left can still find part of their foreign income inside the Irish charge for a period afterwards, and they are surprised by it because they measured presence alone. Establish all three positions in writing in the year you leave, while the evidence is still to hand.
Do I file an Irish return for the year I moved back?
Usually yes. Payroll collects tax through the year on the assumption that the year runs its normal course, and a departure part-way through leaves the deductions out of step with the final liability, often over-deducted and sometimes under. The return is what reconciles them. It also captures anything arising from Irish sources after you go: a final salary payment, a bonus referable to the time you worked there, rent from a property you kept, or an equity award that vests later. Treating the last payslip as the end of the matter is how repayments go unclaimed and balances go unnoticed.
When does Canada start taxing me again after I return?
From the point you re-establish residential ties, not from the date on the boarding pass, though in most cases the two are close together. The ties are the ordinary ones: a home available to you, family who live with you, and the settled indicators that follow them. From that date you are taxed on worldwide income, which includes income still arriving from the country you left. Returning also resets the cost of what you own for the purposes of a later disposal, so values on the date you resume residence are worth recording. We set the date out in writing and list the evidence supporting it.
What happens to my Irish pension when I move back home?
The plan stays where it is. What changes is who taxes the money when it comes out, and that is decided by where you live at that point and by the treaty in force for that year. Many countries also collect at source from the payer, so a payment can be reduced before it reaches you and the relief then has to be claimed rather than granted. Lump sums and regular payments are frequently treated differently from each other, so one rule for the whole plan is rarely right. Ask before you draw anything or move anything: a transfer made for convenience can itself be a taxable event.
Can I be tax resident in two countries at the same time?
Yes, and in a year of movement it is normal rather than unusual. Each country applies its own test and neither asks the other permission, so both can reach the same answer about you at once. That is what the treaty tie-breaker exists to settle. It works through a sequence — where a permanent home is available to you, where your personal and economic connections are stronger, where you habitually live, and then nationality — and it stops at the first step that gives a single answer. It is decided on evidence, so the file matters. We assemble it in the year of the move and keep it, because the question is usually asked much later.
Do I have to tell anyone in Ireland that I have left?
Telling your employer is not the same as telling the tax authority, and the two do not update each other reliably. Departure should be recorded through the return for the year you go, and any continuing source of income — a let property, a directorship, a plan in payment — should be dealt with explicitly rather than left to lapse. Keep an address for correspondence that you will still read, because a query sent to a flat you no longer occupy becomes an unanswered query and then an assessment. We close the file in an orderly way and confirm in writing what remains open and why.
What is the US exit tax?
A charge that applies when a US citizen renounces or a long-term permanent resident gives up their status and meets one of the covered-expatriate tests — an income test, a net-worth test, or a failure to certify five years of compliance. A covered expatriate is treated as having sold worldwide assets on the day before expatriation, and Form 8854 is what reports the position. The tests turn on figures that are indexed, so they are read for the year of expatriation. See Form 8854.
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.
