Do I have to file at home while living in Jordan?
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 Jordan?
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 Jordan. Where is the rent taxed?
In Jordan, 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.
Does my Canadian residency end when I move to Jordan?
Not automatically. Leaving Canada is a question of facts, not of the date on a boarding pass. The Canada Revenue Agency looks at the ties you keep — a home available to you, a spouse or dependants who stayed, memberships, health cover, vehicles and accounts. A posting to Amman with the family still in Canada and a house held empty usually reads as continued residence, which means worldwide income stays reportable at home. The same facts, with the household moved and the home let on a genuine arm's-length lease, point the other way. We set the residence position out in writing before the first Jordanian payslip, because it is far cheaper to document at the start than to argue afterwards.
Is my NGO salary in Jordan exempt from local tax?
It depends on the organisation, not on you. Exemptions in the development sector usually attach to the employing body — its legal status in Jordan, the agreement under which it operates, and the category of staff that agreement covers. So the first document we ask for is not your contract but the employer's constitutional papers and any host-country agreement. Two people doing identical work on the same project can land in different places because one is engaged by the organisation itself and the other through a local implementing partner or a service company. Establish the employer's status first; the personal analysis follows from it.
Do Americans working in Jordan still file a US return?
Yes. United States citizens and green card holders file on worldwide income wherever they live, so a posting to Jordan adds returns rather than removing them. What changes is the relief you claim and the paperwork that supports it — earned income excluded on the strength of days and residence, or foreign tax credited against the US charge where local tax was actually paid. Where the development-sector employer is exempt, there may be no local tax to credit, and the exclusion route becomes the one that matters. Account reporting is separate from the return itself: an FBAR obligation can arise from Jordanian accounts opened for salary alone.
My employer says my pay is tax free — is that enough?
Not for your home country. An exemption granted in Jordan answers only the Jordanian question. Canada and the United States each apply their own residence tests, and neither treats a foreign employer's exemption as a reason to stop reporting. There is also a practical trap: where no local tax is paid, there is nothing to credit at home, so income that felt tax free abroad can be fully taxable when the home return is prepared. We ask for the written basis of the exemption — the clause, the agreement, the staff category — and keep it on file with the return, so the position is evidenced if it is ever questioned.
We kept our house in Canada — does renting it change things?
It can, but the lease has to be real. A property let on an arm's-length basis to an unrelated tenant, for a term that does not conveniently end when you return, is a weaker tie than a house sitting empty or occupied by a relative for a nominal sum. The rental itself then raises its own question, because a non-resident landlord and a resident landlord report Canadian rent in different ways and suffer different withholding. Those two threads have to be decided together, since the answer to the residence question determines which rental filing is the correct one. Deciding them separately is how people end up filing the wrong form for years.
What records should I collect before leaving for Amman?
Copies of the employment contract and any secondment letter, the employer's registration and host-country agreement if it claims an exemption, your entry and exit stamps or a dated travel log, the tenancy agreement for anything you let at home, and the closing statements for accounts you shut before departure. Keep the payslips as issued, in the currency they were paid in. None of this is exotic, but it is far easier to gather in the week you leave than years later from another continent, and a residence position is only as good as the documents standing behind it.
Do expats pay state taxes?
Sometimes — leaving the country does not automatically end a US state's claim. States apply their own domicile tests, and several are slow to accept that domicile has moved while a home, licence, registration or voter record stays behind. A few states have no income tax at all, which removes the question. The federal exclusions do not bind a state, so state exposure has to be reviewed separately from the 1040. See state residency and domicile.
How is my RRSP taxed if I move to the United States?
The treaty lets a US resident defer US tax on the income accruing inside an RRSP or RRIF until it is distributed, which is what stops annual growth being taxed with no cash to pay it — but the position has to be taken and, historically, disclosed. On withdrawal Canada takes withholding as the source country and the United States taxes the distribution with a credit, complicated by the fact that the two systems can measure the taxable portion differently. Contributions and basis need tracking from the start. See treaty relief for RRSPs, 401(k)s and IRAs.
