Do I have to file at home while living in Singapore?
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 Singapore?
That is verified rather than assumed: we confirm which treaty text governs Singapore 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 Singapore. 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.
Does a foreign pension continue to be taxed at home once the recipient retires in Singapore?
It depends on the recipient's residency status and the specific pension's source rules — retiring to Singapore does not automatically remove a home-country pension from that country's taxing reach, and the two positions need to be worked through together rather than assumed to resolve automatically with the move.
Why does Singapore's territorial approach matter for a retiree's foreign pension income?
Because Singapore's own tax treatment of foreign-sourced income received there can differ from how a worldwide-income system would treat the same pension, so the interaction between the pension's home-country treatment and its treatment once received in Singapore needs its own specific review rather than a general assumption either way.
Should pension withholding be arranged before or after a retiree actually moves to Singapore?
Reviewing the withholding position before the move is generally preferable, since a residency-based reduction or exemption in the home country usually depends on documentation being in place, and correcting withholding after the fact through a refund claim is slower than having the correct rate applied from the first payment after the move.
Is a tax treaty the same thing as a totalization agreement?
No, and being covered by one says nothing about the other. An income tax treaty deals with income tax. A totalization or social security agreement deals with contributions — which country's social security system you pay into while working abroad, and how periods in two systems combine for benefit eligibility. Canada and the United States have both; plenty of country pairs have one and not the other. See totalization agreements.
Do I pay tax twice on a foreign dividend?
Not at full rates if the relief is claimed. The paying country usually withholds at source, capped by treaty where one applies and the paperwork is in place; your residence country then taxes the dividend and credits the foreign withholding against its own charge. Where the withholding exceeded the treaty rate because no declaration was filed, the excess is recovered from the paying country, not credited at home. See the dividends article.
