Do I have to file at home while living in Kenya?
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 Kenya 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 Kenya?
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 Kenya. Where is the rent taxed?
In Kenya, 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 pay Canadian tax on rent from my Nairobi property?
If you are resident in Canada, yes. Worldwide income includes foreign rent, whether or not the money is brought to Canada. The rent is reported in Canadian dollars, with the expenses the Canadian rules allow rather than the ones claimed locally, so the two computations rarely produce the same figure. Kenyan tax paid on the same rent is generally creditable against the Canadian charge, which usually leaves a top-up rather than a double charge. Keep tenancy agreements, agent statements and local tax receipts. Where the property is held through a family arrangement, establish who actually owns it before deciding who reports it.
Is my salary from an NGO in Kenya taxable at home?
The exemption question and the home-country question are separate, and people routinely merge them. A development-sector exemption normally attaches to the employing organisation — its status in Kenya and the agreement it operates under — and it answers only what is due locally. Your own country decides on residence, and if it still counts you as resident the salary is reportable there regardless. That combination can be uncomfortable: no local tax paid means no local tax to credit, so the whole charge falls at home. Knowing this before you sign is better than discovering it when the first home return is prepared.
I inherited land in Kenya — what must I report?
Inheriting does not itself create income at home, but holding creates reporting and selling creates a gain. As a resident of Canada or the United States you may have to report foreign holdings once your own country's rules are met, and land held abroad can fall inside that. Establish the value at the date you acquired it, because that figure becomes the base for a future disposal and it is far easier to evidence now than years later. Get the title position confirmed locally as well. Family land is often registered in a name that does not match who everyone understands the owner to be.
Does my Kenyan business mean I file a corporate return abroad?
Possibly, and not always the return you expect. A company incorporated in Kenya but managed from Canada can be treated as resident in Canada as well, which brings a corporate filing obligation there. Even where it is not, a resident shareholder can face reporting on the holding itself and, under some rules, tax on certain income earned inside the company before any dividend is paid. The analysis starts with where the decisions are actually taken, not where the certificate of incorporation was issued. We ask for the minutes, the signing authorities and the bank mandates, because those show where control sits.
How is the sale of my Kenyan property taxed back home?
Both countries may look at it, and the double charge is usually relieved by credit. Kenya taxes the disposal under its own rules. Your home country computes its own gain, in its own currency, from your cost base to your proceeds — and the exchange movement between purchase and sale forms part of that gain, which surprises people whose local computation shows very little. Costs of acquisition, improvement and disposal reduce the gain if you can evidence them. Start collecting those documents before the sale completes rather than after, because agents and advocates become much harder to reach once they have been paid.
Can I claim credit for Kenyan tax I already paid?
Generally yes, within limits. The credit is for foreign tax properly imposed on you on the same income, and it cannot exceed what your home country charges on that income, so a higher foreign rate leaves an unrelieved remainder rather than money coming back to you. It has to be the right taxpayer as well, since tax paid by a company you own is not your personal tax. Keep the assessment or the withholding certificate, not just the bank transfer, because a payment record alone does not show what the payment was for. Where relief is claimed across several years, keep the computations too.
What is the difference between FBAR and Form 8938?
They overlap but are not the same report. The FBAR goes to FinCEN and covers foreign financial *accounts*; Form 8938 goes to the IRS with the return and covers a wider class of specified foreign financial *assets*, with thresholds that vary by filing status and whether you live abroad. Many people must file both for the same accounts, and satisfying one does nothing for the other. See filing both.
Can I revoke the foreign earned income exclusion, and what happens if I do?
You can stop claiming it, but a revocation is not a free toggle: having revoked, you are locked out of electing it again for a period of years unless the IRS consents to an earlier return. That is why switching from the exclusion to the credit is a modelled decision — it can be right, particularly where local tax is high or where you need earned income for retirement contributions or the refundable child credit, but it should be made once and deliberately. See exclusion against credit.
