# Taxes - U.S. & Philippines



## Missouri Bob (Feb 12, 2018)

Hello,

My wife is from the Philippines. She has U.S. citizenship now. We are not sure if she lost her Filipino citizenship when she became a U.S. citizen 28 years ago. We plan on retiring to the Philippines (hopefully in a couple of years.) We will both be receiving pensions and U.S. Social Security in addition to income from 401 K's, savings accounts etc.

Will the Philippines want income taxes from our income?

Thanks.

Bob


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Missouri Bob said:


> Hello,
> 
> My wife is from the Philippines. She has U.S. citizenship now. We are not sure if she lost her Filipino citizenship when she became a U.S. citizen 28 years ago. We plan on retiring to the Philippines (hopefully in a couple of years.) We will both be receiving pensions and U.S. Social Security in addition to income from 401 K's, savings accounts etc.
> 
> ...


I would assume if you leave the money in US (sensible) i doubt that is relevant to Philippines.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

I think(please verify) that when she acquired US Citizenship she gave up her Philippine Citizenship. I think (again please verify) that she can get dual Citizenship, but she will have to apply at the nearest Philippine Consulate in the states. If she acquires dual Citizenship, then when you do come here, you can take advantage of the Balickbayan status if that would suit you. You both will have to do some research to see.

There should be no taxes required from the Philippine Govt as the total amount would be derived outside the ROP.

Fred


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## Missouri Bob (Feb 12, 2018)

fmartin_gila said:


> I think(please verify) that when she acquired US Citizenship she gave up her Philippine Citizenship. I think (again please verify) that she can get dual Citizenship, but she will have to apply at the nearest Philippine Consulate in the states. If she acquires dual Citizenship, then when you do come here, you can take advantage of the Balickbayan status if that would suit you. You both will have to do some research to see.
> 
> There should be no taxes required from the Philippine Govt as the total amount would be derived outside the ROP.
> 
> Fred


Maayong Adlaw (my new phrase for the day)

This sounds like our situation. We are pretty sure that she gave up Philippine citizenship. We just haven't thought about it for a couple of decades. So we've been talking about the Balikbayan program.

My asawa is an accountant and we have been working on the budget. I convinced her to retire a few years from now instead of waiting another 15 years. Mostly by watching a lot of YouTube videos about Philippine Country Life.  She realized that the extra pension and SS income, when converted to pesos, won't make up for missing out on ~10 years of retirement in the Philippines. If we stay in the U.S. it would matter. But in the P.I. it's not worth the 10 year wait. We still have a gap in health insurance to work out. 

Anyway, taxes was our latest question. We will have most of our funds in U.S. accounts. But we will also get a local bank account.

Bob


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

Only the US federal government will tax your income, since you will remain a US citizen and your earnings are derived from US investments and Social Security.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

Presently you can go to the nearest consulate and apply for her dual citizenship. Which will help in the legalities of owning property et al. But a hidden gem is that you can ship all of your household goods back to the Philippines at no charge from the Philippians government when it arrives in country. We went to the New York Consulate...stayed at a hotel within walking distance and got her citizenship in one single day. She was sworn in at the end of that business day. Travel will always be with the US passport but show her dual citizenship paperwork when passing thru immigration when you do return. The only hitch is that the household goods must arrive (or be shipped I forget that detail) within 90 days of her return to be allowed in at no charge. I was advised that there were value limits on the amount allowed back in "free" and I found that not to be the case. We brought over a full 40' container and it was all allowed in without any hassle. All involved were actually very sweet in how they handled our move. As far as money goes I have everything deposited in the US but I have a dollar account and a pesos account with metro bank. I send the dollars to my dollar account so I do not take a beating from the folks that send the money because they under value your dollar when changing to pesos. And the bank has a number of different exchange rates but I let my wife handle that and we get a higher rate than normal (good customer rate and xmas gifts to the manager ...filipino style). When it comes to tax time (coming up shortly) remind your accountant about the expat deduction which exempts around 90K per year. All my income is taxed as if I was staying in the states so there is always a nice kiss from Uncle Sam when the exemption is applied April 15th.


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## Missouri Bob (Feb 12, 2018)

JRB__NW said:


> Only the US federal government will tax your income, since you will remain a US citizen and your earnings are derived from US investments and Social Security.


But if my wife regains her Philippine citizenship, will the Philippine government want to tax her pension/SS income?


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Missouri Bob said:


> But if my wife regains her Philippine citizenship, will the Philippine government want to tax her pension/SS income?


Maybe but pensions in the Philippines are taxed at 0%.


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

Is there not a tax treaty between USA and Philippines? That would avoid dual taxation.

You end up paying the maximum amount of tax payable in either country, sometimes to one country pr top the other but sometimes some to both depending on where the source of the income is from.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

Missouri Bob said:


> But if my wife regains her Philippine citizenship, will the Philippine government want to tax her pension/SS income?


No. The only income the Philippines will tax is income earned in the Philippines. In some cases, like bank accounts, the bank deducts the tax from the interest you earn.


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