Do I have to file at home while living in UAE?
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 UAE?
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 UAE. Where is the rent taxed?
Where the property is. That is close to universal, and it usually arrives as withholding on the gross rent rather than as a return on the profit — which is why the election onto a net basis, where UAE offers one, is normally the first thing to check. Your home country taxes the same rent and credits what was paid.
Do I pay Canadian tax on a Dubai apartment I sold?
If you were resident at home when you sold it, yes. Residents are taxed on gains wherever the property sits, and the absence of a local tax in the UAE means there is nothing to credit against the home liability. If residence had genuinely ended before the sale, the gain generally falls outside the home net, but the date residence ended then becomes the point that has to be evidenced. Either way the gain is measured in your home currency rather than in dirhams, so the figures on the sale agreement are only the starting point of the calculation.
How do I work out the gain if prices were in dirhams?
Each side of the calculation is converted separately, at the rate for its own date: the purchase and its costs at the date you bought, the proceeds and the selling costs at the date you sold. Because the two dates use different rates, a property that changed hands for the same dirham figure can still produce a gain or a loss at home. This catches people out more often than the price does. Keep the original contracts, the registration and agency invoices and the bank records of what actually moved, in the original currency, and the conversion can be done properly afterwards.
Do I have to report a UAE flat I bought?
Reporting and taxing are separate questions. A gain is taxed when you sell; some foreign holdings have to be disclosed while you merely own them, and for Canadian residents that disclosure runs on the T1135 once the cost of specified foreign property passes the threshold for the year. Property genuinely held for your own personal use is treated differently from property held to earn income, so the answer turns on how the flat is actually used rather than on what you intended when you bought it. Send the purchase papers and the tenancy position and we will tell you which side of that line it falls.
Is rent from my Dubai property taxable back home?
If you are resident at home, yes. Rental profit from a UAE property is reported like any other rental profit, converted into your home currency, with the expenses that genuinely relate to earning it. The absence of a local income tax means nothing is available to credit, so the whole result is taxed at home. Service charges, agency commission, maintenance and the interest on a loan used to buy the property are the usual deductions, and the records for them are easier to obtain while you still hold the flat than after you have sold it.
What records should I keep when buying property in the UAE?
The purchase contract, the registration and transfer receipts, the agency invoice, any fit-out or improvement invoices, and the bank records showing what was actually paid and when. Keep them in the original currency and keep the dates, because the conversion at home is done by date. If there is a mortgage, keep the facility documents and the repayment history as well. Years later, the gain on a sale is only as defensible as the cost base behind it, and a cost base assembled from memory is the one that gets reduced when somebody looks at it.
I'm a US citizen selling a UAE villa — what's taxed?
The gain, measured in dollars, with each side converted at the rate for its own date. US filing follows citizenship, so living in the Gulf does not remove the obligation, and because the UAE levies no personal income tax on this there is no foreign tax to credit — the liability lands in full. Whether repaying a dirham mortgage produces a currency result of its own is a question we examine rather than assume. Proceeds held locally can also bring account reporting, including FBAR, for the period the money sits in a UAE bank.
Do non-residents pay US estate tax?
Yes, on US-situs assets — and with a far smaller exemption than a US citizen or domiciliary receives, which is why exposure can arise at values people assume are safe. US real property, tangible property located there and shares issued by US companies are generally in; foreign-issued securities and certain deposits generally are not. An estate tax treaty, where one exists, can improve the position considerably. See US estate tax for non-resident aliens.
What is FIRPTA withholding?
FIRPTA is the US regime that treats a foreign person's disposition of a US real property interest as taxable and makes the buyer withhold on the gross proceeds to secure it. Because the deduction is on the price rather than the profit, it routinely exceeds the real tax — sometimes on a sale made at a loss. A withholding certificate applied for before closing can reduce it to something closer to the actual liability. See the FIRPTA withholding certificate.
