Do I have to file at home while living in Mexico?
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 Mexico 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 Mexico?
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 Mexico. Where is the rent taxed?
Rent from immovable property is almost always taxable where the property is situated, frequently by withholding on the gross amount, with your home country taxing the same income and giving credit. A net-basis election, where one exists, is usually the difference between tax on profit and tax on turnover.
Do I pay tax at home when I sell my Mexican house?
If you are resident at home when you sell, the gain generally belongs on your home return as well as being dealt with in Mexico, and relief comes through the treaty and the foreign tax credit rules rather than by omitting it. Tax is frequently collected in Mexico at closing, and the amount taken at that point is not necessarily the tax finally due on either side. The two systems also measure the gain differently, because cost base, permitted additions and currency all work differently. We prepare both calculations from the same documents.
Is my bank trust an interest in a trust on my home return?
That is the first question, not a detail. Foreign buyers commonly hold Mexican property through a bank trust arrangement, and how your home system characterises it decides whether you are reporting real estate you own or an interest in a trust — two entirely different regimes, with different forms and different consequences for having said nothing. The deed decides it, and deeds are not identical. We read yours before anything else, then record the characterisation and the reasoning in writing so the same position is applied consistently year after year.
How do I prove what I originally paid for a Mexican property?
From the notarial deed first, then from everything around it: the payment records, the currency actually used on the day, and the invoices for work done since. Home systems generally allow the acquisition cost and capital improvements but not repairs, and they usually want each amount converted at the rate applying when it was incurred rather than at today's rate. Owners who kept only the deed lose the improvements. If you still own the property, the cheapest work you can do is assemble that file now, while the records still exist.
Can I claim the Mexican tax withheld on the sale at home?
Usually some of it, but a credit is not automatic and it is not the same thing as the amount withheld. Relief is generally limited to the home tax attributable to that same income, and where the withholding exceeds the tax finally payable in Mexico recovering the excess is a matter to pursue with the Mexican authorities rather than a home credit question. The timing has to line up too: the credit is claimed against the year the gain falls into at home, which may not be the year the money was taken. We reconcile the closing statement to both returns.
Do I have to report the property while I still own it?
Often yes, and this is where owners are most frequently caught out. Several home systems require annual reporting of foreign assets above a threshold, and the arrangement holding a Mexican property can itself trigger trust reporting that runs every year whether or not the property earns anything. Personal-use property and property held to earn income are treated differently, and switching between the two changes the position. The obligation begins at acquisition, not at sale. We set the reporting calendar at the point of purchase so nothing accumulates quietly.
What documents should I collect before buying property in Mexico?
The trust deed or its draft, the notarial purchase documents, proof of the funds and the route they travelled, and the identity of every person taking an interest. Gather them before signature, because the characterisation your home system applies depends on terms that can sometimes still be adjusted. Add a note of the exchange rate on the day funds moved, and keep the invoices for any work done afterwards. Buyers who build this file at the start do not have to reconstruct it years later when the property is sold.
How do Canadians reduce US estate tax exposure?
The treaty does much of the work: it gives a Canadian resident a credit pro-rated by the share of the worldwide estate made up of US assets, plus a marital credit that can defer exposure on a transfer to a spouse. Beyond that the levers are the ones you would expect — the domicile of the funds you hold, whether US real property is held directly or through a structure, and life insurance to fund the liability rather than reduce it. Worldwide estate value is what the pro-ration turns on. See treaty relief on US estate tax.
How are non-residents taxed on Canadian rental income?
By default the payer or agent withholds a flat rate on the gross rent and remits it, with no deduction for mortgage interest, taxes or repairs. Electing under section 216 lets you file on the net rental result instead, which for most properties recovers a substantial part of what was withheld; an NR6 undertaking filed before the year starts lets the withholding itself be computed on net rather than gross. See the section 216 return.
