Do I have to file at home while living in Saudi Arabia?
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 Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia?
Possibly, and the version in force for your year is the one that matters — protocols and multilateral-instrument positions change what a treaty does without changing its name. We check it against the authority rather than a summary. Where no treaty applies, domestic relief takes over.
I own property in Saudi Arabia. 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 have to report my Saudi apartment on my Canadian return?
It depends on what the property does, rather than on where it sits. Foreign property held to earn income falls inside the Canadian foreign property reporting regime that the T1135 form exists to serve; property you occupy yourself is treated differently. So the same flat can be reportable in the years it is let and outside the regime in the years you live in it. Keep the purchase contract, the title document and any lease, because the position has to be supported year by year rather than settled once at the start. If you were non-resident for part of the ownership period, that changes the answer again.
I sold my Riyadh flat at a loss — why does Canada see a gain?
Because the gain is computed in your home currency, not in riyals. The cost is converted at the exchange rate applying when you bought, and the proceeds at the rate applying when you sold. If the riyal has strengthened against the Canadian dollar between those dates, the converted proceeds can exceed the converted cost even though the price in riyals was lower than what you paid. The result is a taxable gain with no money behind it. It runs in the other direction too, which is why the dates on your purchase and sale documents matter as much as the amounts on them.
Does Saudi Arabia tax me when I sell my property there?
Charges levied inside the Kingdom on a property transfer are settled as part of the transaction itself, through the conveyancing process, and they are a matter for your Saudi advisers and the registry. What we deal with is the other half: what your home country does with the same sale. Those halves rarely line up. A charge collected on a transfer is not necessarily an income tax, and a charge that is not an income tax generally cannot be credited against income tax at home, even where it is real money paid on the same transaction. Obtain the Saudi documentation at the time, because reconstructing it later is difficult.
Can I claim my Saudi home as my principal residence?
Possibly, if you actually lived in it. The Canadian designation requires the housing unit to have been ordinarily inhabited by you or your family in the year designated, and only one property can carry the designation for a family in any given year. So a Saudi home and a home in Canada compete for the same years, and the sensible choice depends on which property gained more over which period, not on which one you happen to sell first. You also have to have been resident in Canada for the years you designate. The decision effectively gets made when the first property sells, so model both before you sign anything.
I am a US citizen buying property in Saudi Arabia — what applies?
Buying the property is not usually the reportable event. The money that moves to buy it often is. Funds routed through a Saudi bank account bring that account inside the foreign account reporting regime that FBAR serves, and the obligation turns on the account existing rather than on the purchase. If the purchase is financed in riyals, the loan is a second thing to track: repaying a foreign currency debt can produce a result on the debt itself, separate from anything that happens to the house. Keep the account statements, the loan agreement and the transfer records from the year of purchase, because the obligations run for as long as you hold either.
The Saudi property is in my spouse's name — who reports it?
Registration and ownership are not the same question, and the home-country answer usually follows the money. If you supplied the purchase funds and title was taken in your spouse's name, many home-country regimes attribute the income and the eventual gain back to the person who provided the funds rather than to the registered holder. Local ownership rules in the Kingdom can also make the registered name a practical necessity rather than a choice. The way through is documentary: record at the time where the funds came from, on what terms, and what the parties intended. That record is what a later enquiry is decided on, and it cannot be written afterwards.
How is rental income from a foreign property taxed?
Twice over, then relieved. The country where the property sits taxes the rent — often by withholding on the gross amount, with an election available to file on the net result instead. Your residence country also taxes it, generally on net income under its own rules, and credits the foreign tax. Because the two countries compute "net" differently, the numbers rarely match without work. See the section 216 election.
Is the sale of foreign property taxable where I live?
For a resident, yes — worldwide gains are taxable, and the gain is computed in your own currency, so the exchange rate at purchase and at sale changes the number even when the local-currency price did not move. The country where the property sits usually taxes it too, often with a withholding or clearance step before closing, and that tax becomes a credit. A principal residence relief may apply to a home abroad on the same terms as one at home. See principal residence and foreign property.
