Moving abroad doesn't end your home country's tax obligations — it just changes the paperwork. Here's what Americans, Brits, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders each actually need to know before relocating to the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, or Indonesia.
Cross-border tax situations are genuinely person-specific, and the cost of getting it wrong is almost always higher than the cost of a one-time consultation with a cross-border tax professional. Use this page to know what questions to ask — not as a substitute for asking them.
The US taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live — moving abroad doesn't end the filing requirement, it just adds a few more forms.
Required if your foreign accounts totaled more than $10,000 combined at any point during the year — this threshold doesn't move with inflation, unlike most other tax figures.
For 2026, up to $132,900 per person ($265,800 for married couples who both qualify) of foreign-earned income can be excluded from US tax. This only covers wages and self-employment income — not pensions, dividends, rental income, or capital gains.
Form 2555 claims the FEIE. Form 1116 claims the Foreign Tax Credit as an alternative or supplement. Form 8938 is a separate FATCA reporting requirement if your foreign assets clear that threshold — FBAR and FATCA are two different filings with two different forms, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes.
Americans abroad get an automatic 2-month filing extension to June 15 — but any tax actually owed is still due by the original April deadline, with interest accruing after that regardless of the extension. The extension is for paperwork, not payment.
The UK doesn't use a single day-count rule — it's a three-stage test, and where you land depends on both days spent in the UK and how many "ties" you still have there.
Fewer than 16 days in the UK in the tax year (having been resident in any of the past 3 years) — you're automatically non-resident, no further test needed.
183+ days in the UK — you're automatically resident. No exceptions apply once you cross this line.
Between those two lines, it comes down to your number of UK ties: family, accommodation, work, a 90-day tie, and a country tie. The more ties you have, the fewer days you're allowed before becoming resident again.
Effective April 6, 2025, the UK abolished the remittance basis of taxation for non-domiciled residents and moved to a residence-based regime (the Foreign Income and Gains, or FIG, regime). This is a real structural change, not a minor tweak — don't rely on older guides or advice that assumes the old system is still in effect.
Canada taxes based on residency, not citizenship — which makes cutting ties cleanly far more important than it is for Americans.
The CRA weighs "residential ties" — a home, spouse, or dependents left in Canada (primary ties) matter far more than secondary ties like a driver's license or bank account.
Becoming a non-resident triggers a "deemed disposition" — most of your capital property is treated as sold at fair market value on your departure date, meaning a real capital gains bill even though you haven't actually sold anything. RRSPs, TFSAs, and Canadian real property are excluded.
Spending 183+ days physically in Canada in a year can make you a "deemed resident" regardless of how few ties you've otherwise cut — this catches people who assume ties alone determine the outcome.
The ATO's system is genuinely less clean-cut than the UK or US — there's no single bright-line rule that settles residency on its own.
Meeting any single one of the four tests makes you an Australian tax resident. This is exactly the nationality where getting a professional opinion early is worth the cost, rather than trying to self-assess — the ambiguity is real, not just a matter of reading the rules more carefully.
Tax residency rules vary significantly by country, and the EU/other-nationality landscape spans dozens of different systems — there's no single universal answer.
Tax residency is usually based on either day-count thresholds or a "center of vital interests" test. Cutting ties cleanly — closing local bank accounts, ending leases, updating your registered address — matters as much as the calendar, regardless of which country's system you're dealing with.
File Form 2555 and/or 1116 regardless of income level — the filing requirement doesn't disappear even when the FEIE brings your bill to zero.
Run the SRT before you leave, not after — knowing which of the three stages you'll land in changes how you plan the move itself.
Get a departure tax estimate before you go if you hold significant capital property — the deemed disposition bill can be a real surprise.
This page covers the money side. For the full moving process — schooling, pets, what to sell versus ship versus store — head back to the Moving to Southeast Asia hub, or jump straight to your destination's dedicated country visa guide.
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