Do I have to file at home while living in Italy?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and Italy?
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 Italy. Where is the rent taxed?
In Italy, 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 Canada I bought a house in Italy?
Not as a transaction, but possibly as an asset from that point onward. Canadian reporting of foreign property turns on what the property is held for: a house kept for your family's own use sits differently from one bought to earn income, and the distinction is decided on the facts rather than on what you had in mind at the notary's desk. Decide it deliberately in the year of purchase and apply it consistently, because this is an annual obligation that runs quietly for years and is unpleasant to correct in bulk. Keep the deed, the notary's statement and the proof of payment with that year's tax papers.
How is the gain worked out when I sell an Italian house?
Twice, on two different sets of rules, and the two results will not agree. Italy computes its own outcome on its own measure of cost and its own timing. Your home country computes a gain in its own currency, which means the purchase price is translated at the rate when you bought and the proceeds at the rate when you sold. That alone can produce a reportable gain on a property whose euro price barely moved, or take one away. Neither computation is wrong. They answer different questions, and the second is the one your home return has to carry.
Tax was withheld when I sold in Italy, can I claim it?
Possibly, and the work lies in the evidence rather than in the claim. Relief for foreign tax is generally built on tax borne by you on income or gains that your home return is taxing as well. So the first task is to identify what the withheld amount actually was, against which item, and for whose account — the notary's statement will say, in Italian, and a bank debit on its own will not. The second is to match it against the gain as computed at home, which is measured differently. Ask for the full documentation at closing; it is very hard to obtain once everyone has moved on.
Does it matter whose name goes on the Italian deed?
More than almost anything else decided that day, and it is usually decided under time pressure in a language most buyers do not read. Whoever holds the title owns the income, reports the asset and eventually reports the gain, in Italy and at home. Putting a relative on the deed for convenience, or leaving a spouse off it, creates a position you then live with for as long as the property is held, and unwinding it later is itself a disposal. Settle the ownership question before the appointment rather than inside it, and get the analysis in writing.
My sister and I are buying in Italy, how do we split it?
By the deed, and then consistently for as long as you hold it. The shares recorded on the deed decide who reports what: income, expenses and eventually the gain follow the recorded shares rather than who paid for what or who uses the place more. Where one buyer contributes more than their share, document that at the time for what it is, because an undocumented imbalance surfaces years later as an argument about ownership. If the two of you are resident in different countries, each share is analysed separately under its owner's rules. The property is one thing; the tax position is two.
Do I report the Italian bank account I opened to buy property?
Almost certainly, and separately from the property itself. An account opened to pay the deposit, the notary and the local charges is a foreign financial account, and the obligations attaching to accounts run on their own track, with their own filings and their own tests — for Americans, FBAR reporting sits apart from the income tax return entirely. A small balance, or an account that lies dormant between visits, does not take it out of the picture. Add the account to the same file as the deed on the day it is opened, and note who else can sign on it.
Can I set up a trust that works in two countries?
You can, but the two systems classify and tax trusts differently enough that a structure which is efficient in one is often a reporting problem in the other — a Canadian family trust with a US beneficiary, or a US revocable trust holding Canadian property, are the classic pairs. Canada's twenty-one-year deemed disposition, the US grantor rules and each country's reporting have to be read together, before drafting rather than after. See cross-border wills and trusts.
Are US-listed ETFs US-situs property for a non-resident's estate?
Shares issued by a US company are generally US-situs for estate tax purposes, and a fund domiciled in the United States is a US company however global its holdings. A fund domiciled elsewhere that holds the same underlying stocks generally is not. That distinction — the domicile of the wrapper rather than the location of the investments — is why cross-border portfolios get restructured, and it should be confirmed against your own holdings before anything is sold. See US estate tax exposure for Canadians.
