Do I have to file at home while living in Netherlands?
Residence decides it, and residence is a question of facts rather than of where your post arrives. The one exception is US citizenship, which carries the filing obligation with the person wherever they go. So the first thing we establish is which system still claims you.
Is there a treaty between my country and Netherlands?
That is verified rather than assumed: we confirm which treaty text governs Netherlands and your home country for the year in question, because a protocol can move a rate or an article between years. If there is no treaty, unilateral credit rules are what prevent double taxation.
I own property in Netherlands. Where is the rent taxed?
Where the property is. That is close to universal, and it usually arrives as withholding on the gross rent rather than as a return on the profit — which is why the election onto a net basis, where Netherlands offers one, is normally the first thing to check. Your home country taxes the same rent and credits what was paid.
Does the Dutch expatriate facility change what I report back home?
It changes the Dutch figure, not the home-country one. An expatriate facility reduces what the Netherlands taxes, so the tax actually paid there falls, and a home country that taxes your worldwide income gives credit for tax paid rather than for tax that might have been paid. The practical effect is that the relief you gain in the Netherlands can be partly recovered by the other country, which surprises people who budgeted for the Dutch saving alone. The terms of these facilities have changed over time, so we confirm what applies to your assignment from the current Dutch assessment rather than from what a colleague was granted years ago.
Do I stop being a Canadian resident when I take a Dutch assignment?
Not automatically, and an assignment letter is not a determination. Residence turns on where you actually live and where your personal and economic ties sit, so a family that follows you, a home that is sold or let on a long lease, and a life rebuilt in the Netherlands point one way, while a house kept available, dependants left behind and a short posting point the other. Where both countries have a claim, a treaty in force for your year may allocate residence to one of them through a defined sequence of tests. We settle this before the first return, because the wrong answer is expensive to unwind.
Do I still file a US tax return while living in the Netherlands?
Yes. US citizens and green card holders file on the basis of status, wherever they live, so a Dutch address and a Dutch payroll do not close the US filing. Relief for the same employment income can be claimed through more than one route, and the routes interact, so choosing one for a year has consequences for the years that follow rather than being a fresh decision each April. Foreign account and asset reporting continues alongside the return. We usually prepare the Dutch and US positions together for the first year of an assignment, because doing them separately is what produces a mismatch nobody notices until later.
Will my Dutch holding company actually get treaty benefits?
It will if the substance supports it, and that is examined closely. The question is whether real decisions are taken in the Netherlands by people with the authority to take them, and whether the company has the premises, staff and assets that a company doing what this one claims to do would have. A holding structure that exists only on a register, with decisions minuted locally but made elsewhere, is the case that fails. We review board practice, the location of decision making, the local costs actually incurred and the documentation behind each, then say plainly whether the entitlement is defensible before anything is paid out.
How do I claim credit for Dutch tax on my home-country return?
By evidencing what was actually paid, for the right period, on the right income. The common difficulty is timing. Dutch assessments can be provisional before they are final, home-country returns are due on their own calendar, and a credit claimed on a provisional figure may need revisiting when the final assessment lands. Credit is also computed income by income rather than as a single pot, so employment, rental and investment income are kept apart. We track the Dutch assessments to their final form and adjust the home return where it matters, instead of letting a provisional figure stand unreviewed.
Do I have to report my Dutch bank and pension accounts?
Probably, and the reporting is separate from the tax. Foreign account and asset reporting is triggered by holding something abroad, not by receiving income from it, so an account opened for salary and a dormant savings account can both be reportable while a Dutch pension is treated on its own terms. US persons report accounts on an FBAR; Canadian residents report specified foreign property on the T1135, where the test turns on whether the property is held to earn income. These obligations run whether or not the Dutch tax has been paid in full, and missing them is a separate failure from underpaying tax.
Where do I report foreign tax paid on Form 1040?
Not directly. Foreign tax withheld shows up first on the payer statement — a 1099-DIV, 1099-INT or K-1 — and from there goes onto Form 1116, which computes the allowable credit by category. The credit then lands on Schedule 3 and flows to the 1040. Under the small-amount election it can go straight to Schedule 3 without the form, which is quicker and forfeits the carryover. See Form 1116.
Is there an exit tax when a green card holder leaves the United States?
Only for long-term residents — those who held the green card for long enough to be inside the expatriation regime — and then only if one of the covered expatriate tests is met. The step people skip is the formal one: the status has to be properly ended for tax purposes, and until it is, worldwide filing continues no matter where you live. Abandoning the card and forgetting the tax filing is the common, expensive sequence. See giving up a green card.
