Do I have to file at home while living in Philippines?
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 Philippines 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 Philippines?
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 Philippines. Where is the rent taxed?
In Philippines, 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.
Is money I send to my family in the Philippines tax deductible?
No, and nor is it income to them from you. Support sent to relatives is a transfer of money you have already been taxed on, so it does not reduce your income at home and does not create a filing for the person receiving it. The confusion is worth clearing up, because it hides the obligation that does exist: not the remittance, but anything you own or hold in the Philippines. An account in your own name that the money passes through, a property bought with it, or a policy taken out in your name are all holdings outside your home country, and those are reportable.
Do I have to declare my Philippine bank account in Canada?
Almost certainly, and the obligation is about ownership rather than about income. Canada requires residents to report property held outside the country once their holdings pass the threshold set in the legislation, and a deposit account counts whether or not it earned anything. The interest is separate and belongs on the return as income in Canadian dollars. Accounts opened before you emigrated, accounts kept for family use, and accounts your name was added to for convenience all count as yours if you hold a beneficial interest in them, which is why joint arrangements with a sibling at home are worth reviewing before a return is filed rather than after.
I inherited a house in the Philippines. What do I have to do here?
Establish its value at the date you acquired it and keep that evidence, because it becomes the starting point for every later computation and is nearly impossible to reconstruct once years have passed. From the moment it is yours it is a holding outside your home country and falls within the ownership reporting, subject to how it is used — property kept for your own use is treated differently from property held to earn rent. If relatives live in it without paying, say so on the file and keep the position consistent. If it is let, the rent belongs on your return with expenses recomputed under home rules.
Do I pay US tax on rent from my condo in Manila?
Yes. The American return follows citizenship and permanent residence, so rental income arising anywhere belongs on it, converted into dollars and computed under American rules, including the depreciation rules that apply to residential property held abroad. Philippine tax on the same rent is relieved through the credit mechanism rather than by leaving the income off. Separately, the bank account the rent is paid into is reportable in its own right, on a filing distinct from the return, and that is the item most often missed. Keep the lease, the local tax receipts and the annual bank statements together; both filings draw on them.
I am posted to Manila for work. Am I still resident in Canada?
Often yes, especially on a posting with a return date. Canada looks at the ties you keep rather than at where you sleep most nights, so a house left empty or lent to a relative, a spouse who stays, and the ordinary accounts and memberships can hold residence in place for the whole posting. If residence continues, the Philippine employment income belongs on your Canadian return with credit for the tax paid there. If you intend to break residence it has to be done deliberately and evidenced at the time — the lease, the move of the household, the closing of what can be closed — and the departure year carries its own reckoning of what you owned.
Does my Philippine retirement account have to be reported at home?
Usually, and the analysis is done on what the account actually is rather than on what it is called. A savings or investment account held in a retirement wrapper abroad is rarely given the treatment a domestic pension receives, so it may be reportable as foreign property, its income may be taxable as it accrues, and where it is held through a trust or fund structure there can be a further filing on top. The documents to gather are the plan rules, the statement of contributions, and evidence of who funded it. Better to read the paperwork than to name a treatment from the label on the statement.
Would a state exit tax even be constitutional?
A levy imposed purely for leaving would face serious challenge under the constitutional protections for interstate commerce and the right to travel, which is part of why proposals stall. But that is not what most states are doing. Taxing income that was earned or sourced within the state before you left is conventional, long upheld, and where almost all real disputes sit — which is why the useful question is sourcing and domicile, not constitutionality. See state non-resident returns.
Do dual citizens have to file US taxes if they live abroad?
Yes. US filing follows citizenship, not residence or where the income arose, and the obligation continues for as long as the citizenship does. Two further obligations travel with it and are keyed to account balances rather than income, so they can apply in a year with no US tax at all: the foreign bank account report to FinCEN, and the specified foreign asset statement with the return. Most people who discover a problem discover it there. See two returns as a dual citizen.
