Do I have to file at home while living in Slovenia?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and Slovenia?
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 Slovenia. 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 report my Slovenian flat in Canada if it earns nothing?
Often yes. The Canadian foreign property reporting on T1135 is driven by what you own and what it cost, not by whether the asset produced income in the year. Property held for personal use is treated differently from property held to earn income, so a flat used only by the family sits in a different position from one that is let, and the distinction has to be established rather than assumed. Settle the question in the first year of ownership and write down the reasoning. It recurs every year, and the answer only changes when the use or the cost of the property changes.
Is my holiday home taxable in Slovenia when it sits empty?
Ownership carries local obligations that do not wait for the property to earn anything. Those charges are assessed by reference to the property itself rather than to your income, they are administered locally, and they continue whether the place is let, occupied or shuttered for the winter. They are also easy to miss from abroad, because nothing arrives in your postbox at home. Treat them as a separate annual task with their own calendar and keep the receipts. They matter later as evidence of ownership, and what they may do on your home return depends on what the charge actually is.
How is rent from my Slovenian property taxed in Canada?
A Canadian resident reports worldwide rental income, so the property goes on the Canadian return whatever has already been done in Slovenia. Gross rent is reported and deductible expenses are claimed under Canadian rules, which do not always match the local ones, so the two computations rarely produce the same figure. Slovenian tax paid on that income is then relieved through the foreign tax credit, and the credit is limited to the Canadian tax on the same income rather than being a refund of the foreign tax. Convert the amounts consistently, and keep the local assessment as support for the credit.
What value do I use to report a foreign property at home?
Cost, generally, rather than what the property is worth now. For Canadian foreign property reporting the figure that matters is what you paid, converted at the appropriate rate, together with improvements capitalised over time. An inherited property is different. Its cost for these purposes is normally established at the time it passed to you rather than at whatever the original owner paid, and that value is worth documenting while the evidence still exists. The market value is what interests an estate agent. The tax file needs the cost, the date, the currency and the paperwork that supports all three.
Will I be taxed twice when I sell my property in Slovenia?
Immovable property is generally taxable where it sits, so Slovenia may tax the gain. Your country of residence then taxes the same disposal and relieves the Slovenian tax through the credit rules, so the intention is one economic charge rather than two. Problems come from mismatches rather than from the principle. The two countries may compute the gain differently, may recognise the disposal in different tax years, and may treat currency movement differently. Establish the cost base and the disposal date before the sale completes, because after completion you are reconstructing rather than planning.
Does the Slovenian bank account I opened for bills need reporting?
Almost certainly, and separately from the property itself. Foreign financial accounts have their own reporting: a US person's obligations include FBAR, and a Canadian resident's foreign property reporting on T1135 takes in funds held outside Canada as well as the real estate. The account opened to pay utilities and receive the occasional rent is the one people forget, because it feels like plumbing rather than an investment. The reporting turns on the existence of the account, not on how much passes through it, so include it from the year it is opened.
Do I have to declare my dual citizenship?
A tax return does not generally ask you to declare which passports you hold; it asks about residence, and in the US case it applies to citizens by definition. What does ask is your bank. Account-opening self-certification under FATCA and the Common Reporting Standard asks which countries you are a tax resident or citizen of, and the answer is reported onward to the tax authority. So the practical answer is that the information arrives either way. See FATCA reporting.
Does dual citizenship affect Social Security benefits?
Entitlement is built on your contribution record and on the rules of the paying system, not on how many passports you hold. What your citizenship and residence do affect is the tax side: which country may tax the benefit under the treaty's pensions or social security article, whether the payer withholds, and whether a totalization agreement joins two contribution records to get you over an eligibility threshold. See totalization agreements.
