I earn in one country and plan to settle in another. What do I need to think about?

In United States

US citizens and resident aliens are taxed on worldwide income from all sources, wherever they live, and file on broadly the same rules at home or abroad. Moving away does not end this for a citizen.

Living abroad, you may be able to exclude foreign earnings up to a limit adjusted for inflation each year — the foreign earned income exclusion — if you meet its tests, such as 330 full days abroad in 12 consecutive months. A US person who is a shareholder in a passive foreign investment company may also have to file Form 8621 for it — worth checking with a US tax adviser for any fund you hold outside the United States.

If you are settling in the US from abroad, the same worldwide rule applies from the day you become resident, so investments bought elsewhere come into the US return.

In Canada

You generally become an emigrant for tax purposes when you leave Canada to live elsewhere and sever your residential ties. Keep significant ties and you may still be a factual resident; be resident of a treaty country too and you may be a deemed non-resident.

On leaving, Canada treats you as having sold certain property — shares, for example — at its fair market value, even though you have not sold it, so you may owe tax on the gain (departure tax). If everything you own is worth more than CA$25,000 when you leave, you file a list of it on form T1161.

You can keep a TFSA as a non-resident and its income is not taxed in Canada, but any contribution made while non-resident is taxed at 1% for each month it stays in the account.

In United Kingdom

UK residence is decided by the statutory residence test. You are automatically resident if, among other tests, you spend 183 days or more in the UK in a tax year; otherwise the automatic overseas tests and a sufficient-ties test decide. In the year you arrive or leave, the tax year is usually split into a resident and a non-resident part.

If you move abroad and become non-resident, you cannot pay into an ISA (unless you are a Crown employee overseas or their spouse or civil partner), but you can keep it open and keep the UK tax relief on what it holds. The country you move to may still tax the income and gains inside it.

In Europe

Europe is not one tax system. Each member state sets its own residence tests and rates, and you are always subject to the tax rules of your country of residence. If you also have income from another country, you may owe tax there too.

Most countries have double tax agreements that usually spare you from being taxed twice — commonly by offsetting tax paid in one country against tax owed in the other — and EU countries exchange tax information with each other. Check the treaty between the two countries involved, and the residence rules of the country you are moving to.

In Australia

The Australian Taxation Office decides residence with four tests: the resides test (the primary one — physical presence, intention, family, work and assets all count), the domicile test, the 183-day test and the Commonwealth superannuation test. Satisfy the resides test and the others do not matter.

If you worked in Australia on a temporary visa and leave, you can usually claim your super as a departing Australia superannuation payment, less tax. Australian and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents cannot; their super stays in the system until they can access it, generally from 60 once retired or leaving a job, or from 65.

In New Zealand

You become a New Zealand tax resident when you have been in New Zealand for more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or when you have a permanent place of abode there — whichever comes first. Residence is then backdated to the first of those 183 days.

New Zealand residents are taxed on worldwide income. Most people who become tax resident for the first time, or return after 10 years away, are exempt from tax on most overseas income for around four years — a window worth knowing about if you are settling there with savings held abroad.

In Singapore

A Singapore citizen or permanent resident who normally lives in Singapore is a tax resident. A foreigner is generally resident for a year after staying or working in Singapore for at least 183 days in the previous calendar year, for three consecutive years, or for a continuous period straddling two calendar years that totals at least 183 days.

Leaving Singapore does not by itself release your CPF savings: an account is closed and paid out only once you are no longer a Singapore citizen or permanent resident — see what happens to a pension when you move.

In Hong Kong

Hong Kong taxes on a territorial basis: only profits with a source in Hong Kong are subject to profits tax, and profits sourced elsewhere are not. Salaries tax is charged on income from employment — in full for a Hong Kong employment, and broadly by the days worked in Hong Kong for a non-Hong Kong one.

That makes Hong Kong different from countries that tax residents on worldwide income: moving there does not by itself bring profits sourced elsewhere into Hong Kong tax. The country you leave may still tax you, and your MPF has its own rules on permanent departure.

In Japan

You are a non-resident of Japan for tax purposes unless you have a domicile in Japan or have lived there continuously for one year or more. A non-resident is taxed in Japan only on income with a source in Japan, such as rent from property there or interest on Japanese deposits.

If you leave Japan as a non-Japanese national after a short spell of pension coverage, you may be able to claim a lump-sum withdrawal payment, applying within two years of leaving.

In India

You are resident in India for a tax year if you are there for 182 days or more, or for 60 days with 365 days over the previous four years. A citizen leaving India for work abroad is held to the 182-day test alone; a visiting citizen with more than ₹15 lakh of Indian income faces 120 days instead of 60. A citizen with more than ₹15 lakh of Indian income who is not liable to tax in any other country is deemed resident whatever the days — worth checking if you earn in a country with no income tax. Someone returning after years abroad may be not ordinarily resident at first.

NRE accounts should be re-designated as resident accounts (or moved to an RFC account) when you return to take up work or otherwise change residence; NRO accounts may be re-designated as resident accounts when you return intending to stay for an uncertain period.

In Malaysia

You are generally a Malaysian tax resident for a year if you are in Malaysia for 182 days or more in it. Shorter stays can still count when they are linked to a longer period in the next or previous year, or when you were resident or present for 90 days or more in enough of the surrounding years.

If you give up Malaysian citizenship or permanent residence to migrate, or you are an expatriate or foreign worker leaving Malaysia, the EPF lets you withdraw all your savings.