Do I have to file at home while living in Turkey?
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 Turkey?
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 Turkey. Where is the rent taxed?
In Turkey, 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.
Do I have to report my flat in Istanbul at home?
Probably, and on two separate tracks. If the flat produces rent, that rent is income at home for as long as you are resident there, with credit for Turkish tax on the same rent. Separately, the property itself may have to be reported once your foreign holdings pass the reporting threshold, and that obligation does not depend on the flat earning anything at all. A family flat standing empty, or used by relatives, is the single most commonly omitted asset in this corridor. What decides both questions is the title: who legally owns it, and in what shares.
I own part of a family business in Turkey, what do I file?
Interests in foreign companies are reported in their own right, and the depth of the reporting depends on how much of the company you and your relatives control between you. A modest personal stake can attract full reporting because shares held by family members are counted alongside your own. You will need the shareholding percentages, the relationships between the holders, the company's financial statements and its year end. Dividends, when they are paid, are a separate matter again. The work is usually less about tax payable than about establishing exactly what is held, which nobody has previously written down.
Is Turkish tax withheld from my salary creditable at home?
Generally yes, where your home country is taxing the same income, and subject to the credit being limited to the home tax on that income. Turkish employment tax is withheld through payroll across the year, which makes the monthly records easy to gather but not sufficient on their own, because withholding shows what was deducted rather than what was finally assessed. Ask the employer for a year-end statement of tax deducted and remitted. Where the amounts withheld and assessed differ, the credit follows the assessment, so the year is not closed at home until the Turkish year is.
I rent out an apartment in Turkey, where do I declare the rent?
In both places, if you are resident at home. Turkey taxes income from property located there, so a local return is usually required, and your home country taxes the same rent as part of your worldwide income, giving credit for the Turkish tax. Two practical points follow. The expenses allowed in each system are not the same, so the rental profit reported in Turkey and the one reported at home may legitimately differ, and you should keep a reconciliation showing why. And the tenancy, the deposits and the agent's statements evidence both returns, so keep one set of records that serves each.
I inherited property in Turkey, is it taxable at home?
The inheritance itself is generally not the taxable event at home; what follows it is. From the date the property becomes yours, you may have income to report if it is let, a reporting obligation for the asset once your holdings pass the threshold, and a cost base to establish for the eventual sale. That last one is done properly at the time and badly ever afterwards. Obtain a valuation and the succession documents while the estate is fresh in Turkey, and keep them with the title deed. They decide the tax on a sale that may be decades away.
Does a Turkish company count as a foreign corporation for US tax?
A company incorporated in Turkey is foreign for these purposes, and United States persons holding an interest in one face reporting that can apply whether or not anything has been distributed. How onerous it is depends on the level of control held in aggregate, and on what the company earns, since passive income is treated differently from an operating trade. Canada asks a parallel set of questions under its own tests. In both systems the starting point is a clear shareholding register and financial statements you can actually obtain from the company, so establish that access before anything else.
Does my foreign spouse have to pay US tax?
Not unless something connects them to the US system: they are a citizen or green card holder, they meet the substantial presence test, they have US-source income, or you elect to treat them as a US resident so you can file jointly. That election is the one people make without weighing it, because it reaches their foreign salary, their foreign investments and their foreign accounts, not just their name on the form. See a US person with a non-resident spouse.
What foreign taxes qualify for the foreign tax credit?
A levy qualifies if it is an income tax, or a tax in lieu of one, that you were legally required to pay and actually paid or accrued, and that is not refundable to you. That rules out value-added and sales taxes, property taxes, and social security contributions covered by a totalization agreement. It also rules out tax you could have avoided by claiming a treaty rate and did not — the credit does not cover voluntary over-withholding. See Form 1116.
