Do I have to file at home while living in Spain?
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 Spain?
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 Spain. Where is the rent taxed?
In Spain, 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.
If I work from Spain for a Canadian employer, where do I pay tax?
Living in Spain and being employed elsewhere are two separate questions. Spain looks at where you actually live, and once you are resident there its claim is not limited to work done for Spanish clients. Canada does not stop taxing you because your address changed: it asks whether your residential ties have genuinely been severed. Where both countries can assert a claim, the treaty decides which one yields, and it does so on the facts of your home, your family and your habitual abode rather than on the wording of the contract. The practical outcome is usually a split, with employment income taxed where the work is performed and relief claimed at home for what Spain takes.
Does my employer have to run Spanish payroll for me?
That is a question about the employer's obligations rather than yours, but it lands on your payslip either way. Spain generally expects tax and social contributions on work performed on its territory to be collected locally, and a foreign employer with a worker living there may find it has registration duties even without an office. Some of those duties can be discharged by the employee instead, depending on how the arrangement is set up. The answer is not in the employment contract. It follows from where the work is actually done and how long the arrangement is expected to last. Settle it in writing before the first payslip rather than after the first assessment.
Which autonomous community rules apply if I move within Spain?
Spanish regional rules vary within the country, so your position depends on the autonomous community as well as on the national rules. Several elements of liability and a number of reliefs are set regionally, which means a move between communities can change your outcome without anything about your work changing at all. The community that counts is generally the one you are genuinely settled in for the year, judged on where you live rather than on where you first registered. If you moved during the year, keep the evidence of when: the tenancy, the utility accounts and the municipal registration all carry weight.
Do I still file in Canada while living in Spain?
Residence decides this, not the address on the envelope. Canada looks at the ties you kept: a home available to you, a spouse or dependants who stayed behind, and secondary connections such as licences, memberships and where your property sits. If those ties survive the move you remain a Canadian resident and your worldwide income stays reportable, with relief for Spanish tax claimed on the return. If the ties are genuinely severed, the filing pattern changes in the year you leave rather than stopping cleanly, and Canadian-source income can keep obligations of its own afterwards. Decide the residence question first and the filings follow from it.
Can I claim credit in Canada for Spanish tax paid?
Usually yes, but only for the part of the Spanish liability that is an income tax, and only against the Canadian tax on the same income for the same year. Two things trip people up. The first is composition, because Spanish liability arrives in more than one piece and social contributions are not income tax. The second is timing, because the year in which Spain finally assesses you is not always the year the income belongs to. Keep the Spanish assessment itself rather than a summary of it, and translate the figures consistently. A credit claim stands or falls on the documents behind it.
Do I file in Spain if my flat earns no rent?
Non-resident property ownership in Spain carries its own annual filing quite apart from any income, so an empty flat does not put you outside the system. The obligation is tied to the ownership rather than to the receipts, and each co-owner normally has a filing of their own for their share. If the property is let for part of the year, the letting periods and the remaining periods are dealt with differently, which is why the calendar of use matters as much as the bank statements. Keep the purchase deed, the local property reference and a clear record of who owns what proportion.
Who qualifies for US tax treaty benefits?
A resident of the other treaty country, under that treaty's residence article, who is the beneficial owner of the income and who satisfies any limitation-on-benefits test the treaty contains. Nationality is not the test and neither is where the bank is. Note the trap in the other direction: a US citizen living in the treaty country generally cannot use the treaty to reduce US tax, because the saving clause preserves the US claim over its own citizens. See our treaty work.
What is the difference between FBAR and Form 8938?
They overlap but are not the same report. The FBAR goes to FinCEN and covers foreign financial *accounts*; Form 8938 goes to the IRS with the return and covers a wider class of specified foreign financial *assets*, with thresholds that vary by filing status and whether you live abroad. Many people must file both for the same accounts, and satisfying one does nothing for the other. See filing both.
