Taxation in Two Different Countries

Today we're going to talk about being taxed in two different countries

Who could tax you?  

Well, that's an easy question, lots of people can. You can be taxed by: your country of citizenship, the place where you work, the place where you live, your spouse's country, or your employers country. All those people have a potential claim on taxing you. So today we're going to talk about the best way of addressing those issues. The United States is unique in that we tax people on their worldwide earnings as based upon citizenship, not residency. So you can be in Antarctica and the US wants to tax it. You can be at the moon and the US government wants to tax it.

Four things to remember about US citizens that are taxed on worldwide earnings:

  • The same piece of income, may be taxed twice or not at all, and it just depends on the rule.
  • Taxation doesn't matter if it's two different countries or two different states.
  • They both may tax you and, with each country, their sovereignty is important to them. They don't want to have their taxation dependent upon another country's tax laws.
  • Lastly, every country gets to give tax benefits to whatever thing that they feel is important. So some countries, like the US, you have tax benefits for charitable contributions, real estate taxes, or having multiple kids.

If you're an ambassador living overseas, we will give American citizens the 2555, the foreign earned income exclusion or the foreign tax credit because we feel it is important for Americans living abroad. You represent the government and we want to get you a tax break for that. The US also has a unitary tax. If you're taxing your host country and you're paying income tax there, you can get a credit on your US tax return. That credit can be whatever you paid to the foreign country and can be used to reduce your US income tax. So it's deemed to be kind of a unitary tax, athough the US tax rate very well might be less than your foreign country.

Lets also talk about the enforcement activities. 

A common misconception is that going to the IRS or the Department of Revenue or the Inland Department of Revenue is best because they know the tax rules and they enforce it. That is a not a good source of tax advice because if you're a tax bureaucrat, the safest answer for you to give  is "of course it's taxable". They don't get in trouble saying it's taxable, they get in trouble for saying it's not taxable.

So what is an enforcement in your host country going to look like?

  • They're likely going to ask for your 1040 or W-2 to see what you had withheld. They may also look at your federal income tax.
  • A lot of times Americans abroad kind of get caught up and excited and reassess their tax as in the host country based upon enforcement activity in that country. Its important to know that enforcement activity is not always aimed at Americans, so it's important to realize who the enforcement activity is aimed at.
  • This causes Americans to reassess where they're at. If you're reassessing your tax situation, your host country, the best thing you can do is get competent legal and tax advice.
  • In the host country, you want someone who's familiar with American Expats because Americans have unique tax perspective.

Based here in the US, Tax911 is experienced with international tax situations. Contact us today to book an appointment and talk about your specific tax situation. 

Share this article...

Want tax & accounting tips and insights?

Sign up for our newsletter.

I confirm this is a service inquiry and not an advertising message or solicitation. By clicking “Submit”, I acknowledge and agree to the creation of an account and to the and .

Contact Us

Email:
info@tax911.com

Existing Clients: Please email taxadmin@tax911.com.

Phone:
913-712-8539

Fax:
913-712-8564
Toll Free from US: 855-829-0911

Tax 911 We love to chat!
Please feel free to use the buttons below to contact us or use our Ai powered chat assistant.
Please fill out the form and our team will get back to you shortly The form was sent successfully